The Ferocious Roars of Tea Drinking Dragons
by Ruler of the Fake Empire
Summary: Somewhere amongst the strange Latin fellow with the children hanging off him, the sponantious and constant bouts of tea and the failed assassination attempts Arthur and Alfred are thrown into each others lives. Together they are yet again thrown into something far more interesting that expected. But, what is that feeling? That beautiful flower? That tedious little ear worm?
1. Drinking tea and eating bullets

If he told the truth, which he probably wouldn't, he was painfully curious. He removed his eye from the scope and looked down at the small tea shop. While he was curiosity like he had never had been curious before the man would still die. He would die very quickly, in some sort of immediate and ceremonious demise. His blood would splatter on the floor and his face would probably freeze in surprise or shock or something of the like. Alfred frowned, he didn't like that much. Then again he wasn't paid to like things.

His glasses had begun to slip down the bridge nose and he pushed them back up out of habit. He sat down to the side of his rifle with a deep, remorseful sigh.

He looked down at his hands.

They were encased in soft brown leather. Old leather, that had been repaired many times and had been worn by his father before him. Killing people wasn't exactly the family business, but Alfred had always just found it easier to just wander along to path given to him rather than bother stumbling into the unknown wilderness. He wasn't exactly controlled though and he largely did what he wanted, much to the unhappiness of many. Still laziness was regrettably and constantly getting the better of him.

He didn't feel particularly guilty about the fact that he killed people for money, it was never really him anyway. He was just a middle man. Someone to get down and dirty while the real intent stayed fresh and clean. He was just a servant to the real evil, who he really tried not to concern himself with.

A strong wind blew in from the east and Alfred muttered some curse words. You would think that you would get used to being on roofs when you're an assassin, but Alfred had never gotten used to it. He hated roofs. They were always windy and cold and it was like the sun just turned off when ever he went up to them. He grunted disapprovingly to himself and looked down at the man that was yet to die. He sat primly a chair right next to the window of the cafe, the light sun shining down on him. He was reading some book that looked older than their ages combined. Alfred could see light shining through his hair. It glowed a lighter blond than his own shock of ragged locks. The man that was yet to be killed sipped a cup of tea, occasionally eating some chocolate. He was handsome in a prim,m sharp sort if way. From where Alfred sat, atop the opposite building, he could see a bright glimmer in the man's emerald eyes. They glistened quietly in the sparkling sunlight and Alfred was rendered speechless.

Beauty, he had always thought, was painfully overrated and cliched to such an extent that it was basically pointless. Beauty, over time, had just become something for people to make money off. Something to be feed off and scavenged for until I was old and dull. He had plenty of his own and had no need for anymore. Yet, some how this man had a beauty that he had never seen before. Nor had he ever encountered it being advertised in a magazine. This was not the type of beauty that was for sale. He looked so calm, sitting there in his cafe, sipping his tea and reading his book. Like he was just patiently waiting for whatever anyone decided to do.

Alfred wondered, basically to himself, why someone would put in an order for the man's death. Normally when someone wanted someone else dead they tended to be a little more shady than this man seemed to be. Most of it time it was in the other part of the city, the part that people always managed to get kidnapped in and things of that sort happened on a regular basis. Most of the time when people are going to get assassinated they don't sit next to windows where a sniper can easily end their life. On average the people that got assassinate usually saw it coming.

Maybe the man was a nymph. Nymphs were ditzy and usually did ditzy things like actively welcome being assassinated and waiting for it in shop windows. Then again he didn't really look like a nymph, he looked far too intelligent. Come to think of it he was probably just a perfectly normal human being. Alfred suddenly felt silly. He didn't need to be asking questions like that. A lead bullet to the brain kills all sorts of creatures, so it just didn't matter whether he was or wasn't human.

Alfred yawned, he wanted some burgers and he was done with watching the man. He wasn't particularly interested in the man's untimely and probably unwelcome death, but he was interested in the money it provided him with. The money he was in dire need of. He was lucky that he was able to live on burgers without actually dying of a heart attack. He once again positioned himself behind the gun and put his eye too the scope. He shifted the black barrel until the little cross was right over the man's forehead. While he was going to end the man's life, Alfred didn't feel the need to prolong any suffering. His finger hoovered over the trigger.

A breath in.

Do I want to do this?

No, probably not.

Do I need to do this?

People gotta eat.

Oh well.

A breath out.

All Alfred had to do was plunge his finger down and the shot was fired. The bang was aching and painful to his sensitive ears but he ignored it. Something far more interesting had happened than the fact that his ears hurt. Something far, far more interesting.

He hadn't missed.

He never missed, but the man hadn't dropped dead either. The window had

shattered, so the bullet had gotten that far. Alfred watched as the man that had mysteriously not been killed hold the bullet between his thumb and forefinger.

He had caught the bullet.

He had caught the bullet without even changing his facial expression.

How stupid was that. How absolutely stupid. It was like something from a western drama, only real life and impossible. Alfred pushed his eye even closer to the scope as he watched the man twist the bullet in his fingers, with what looked like interest. He didn't look afraid in the least, mildly surprised maybe. But definitely not afraid. He shrugged as if to himself before popping the bullet into his mouth and chewing thoughtfully. He continued to calmly read his book as if nothing had happened. He actually seemed kind of pleased because the warmth, not just the light, of the sun shone down on him now.

The man had just caught a bullet and eaten it.

I must if drunk some weird shit last night, Alfred thought to himself as he sat back, questioning what he had just witnessed. He went over everything from the moment he had pulled the trigger to him revelling in the insanity of what had just happened.

Shot fired.

Got to the window.

The man caught it.

Shrugged.

Ate it.

Continued to read.

Alfred could see the pictures in his mind and he was perfecting certain of what he had seen. That man was not human. He looked like a human and seemed to do what human did, but he was most defiantly not one. Human's cannot catch bullets, they can't chew them either. How… how completely absurd.

"Dude" Alfred muttered to himself. That wasn't meant to happen.

One of the waitresses came over to him immediately and tapped his shoulder.

"Arthur, are you alright? Did someone throw a stone or something?" Arthur looked up at the waitresses. He had known her since she was very small, but she wasn't aware of that. He had proudly decided that she would consider him an old friend. He didn't usually go messing about in people's minds, but he had accidentally made a little promise to her father that he would watch over her and if he was going to be truthful he had grown a little overly fond of the girl. She had long decided that he was going to be in her life, so he had just made the appropriate changes to accommodate that. He was actually pretty proud of himself for that. It was a very neat job.

"Yes, yes I'm perfectly fine. It's nothing" just some trying to kill me, nothing to worry about, Arthur thought to himself. "I think I'll take my leave now. Be sure to get the get the window repaired, and sweep up the shards with care. I wouldn't want you to get cut" Arthur stood quickly. He didn't really fancy getting his old friend mixed up in whatever the owner of the bullet thought he or she was doing. Taking his book he leaned down and planted a kiss on her cheek just like he did everyday and smiled at her. He had been doing that for years upon years, but somehow she still managed to blush. It amazed him.

"I will, don't worry" she said happily. "Come back tomorrow" it was their ritual. A kiss on the cheek from him and a friendly 'come back tomorrow' from her. Arthur smiled, he was always back tomorrow. That was the way it worked.

"Of course" with that he grabbed his coat from the coat rack and strode out the door, muttering about how he was going to have to sit in the other window seat tomorrow and just how much that annoyed him. As he walked he attempted to pick some lead bullet out of his teeth. It tasted like Indian spices and tar. It wasn't a bad taste, but he wasn't hungry any more. He flicked a few shards of shrapnel into the shrubbery and continued to walk down the street, almost whistling with contentment.

He wasn't particularly surprised when he happened to notice he was being followed. People that fail assassination attempts always seemed to do that. Or at least that was what Arthur figured. Nobody had ever tried to kill him before. He was still a bit annoyed though. He didn't particularly like the sensation, it only made him more irritable.

Deciding that he was hungry and he wanted to go home, Arthur adjusted his course. He would deal with the unfortunate assassin when he got home and perhaps he would have some lunch.

Arthur very calmly unlocked his gate and continued up the pathway that lead to his house. He quite liked his house. It was neat and his garden was always in bloom. He smiled at his sunny white door as his opened it. Maybe he would make some scones. Of course the persistent assailant was still following him, but as far as Arthur was concerned he could follow himself up his own ass. Perhaps Arthur could make that happened. He liked that idea.

With a deep sigh Arthur instead placed the groceries he had picked up on the counter and took of his jacket, leaving him in just his waist coat, which he unbuttoned. He wandered into his living room. Just like the rest of the house there were hip high piles of books everywhere. Arthur had long run out of bookshelf space so he had resorted to piling his books on the floor. That had been a good hundred years ago and he was actually beginning to run out of plausible floor space. The living room had single papers filtering about, like a fine layer of snow. It only added to the faint sense of disarray. It was like his house was a study rather than a home.

Arthur quickly lit a fire to warm his cold house and turned on a few lights. Evening was descending upon him much sooner than he had expected. Perhaps it would be supper rather than lunch. Sighing, he stood and headed out to the back door. He opened it and stared out into the backyard. Arthur had planted many trees in his backyard when he had first moved in and now they were great and strong.

"Hey, wanker!" He yelled out into the darkness. "If you're going to try and shoot me at least have the courtesy to do it inside the house. I really don't find it an appealing task to have to pick frozen assassin out of trees" the darkness didn't respond immediately, but he still saw a broad figure leap down from one of the tress. Arthur raised an eyebrow at how young he was, pretty handsome too. "Alright Mr Assassin-Prick, it gets cold here very fast so if you don't mind..." Arthur gestured inside the house and a young man stepped into the porch light, carrying his huge gun and pulling the trigger.

And so Arthur got another snack.

Authors note:

I smashed this chapter out in fifteen minutes I swear.

It was just so much fun to write and I really hope that you enjoyed reading it as well. Updates will becoming soon.

Becuase fate hates me I do not own hetalia or any of the characters as much as it disappoints me.

Yours faithfully,

Clementine.


	2. The zombie and the dragon

"You're a sucky assassin, you know that?" Arthur chewed on the bullet with an unimpressed expression. The man standing in his garden only frowned as if he wasn't quite believing what he had just seen. Arthur wasn't surprised. Human's don't usually catch and eat what's shot at them. "Well, come on then" Alfred frowned and took a hesitant single step towards the other man. He wasn't stupid. He knew that going inside the house would probably lead to his own untimely demise, but he was freezing and he could probably escape if it got bad.

Despite the obvious alarm bells, Alfred was too cold to deny that the house looked warm and appealing as did its owner. He had taken off his jacket and his waistcoat had been unbuttoned. He looked almost lazy.

Alfred lowered his gun and trudged inside the house, the warmth hitting him almost instantly. It wasn't like a sauna or a hot summer night, it was like a fire in the winter or getting under the blankets during a blizzard. It was a calm warmth. He walked deeper into the house, noticing the odd trinkets that were scattered about the house. It was all kind of mismatched. A mirror where it shouldn't of been. Something valuable among the tiny things. A desk in the middle of the hall. A painting on the celling. There were a few hundred lifetimes' worth of possessions taking a home in this house. You would of never guessed that this was what the house contained from the outside.

Alfred could hear the other man walking behind him in silence, his dress shoes tapped on the wood floor as if he had been stepping there for many more years than he cared to remember. Alfred couldn't understand how everything about this man managed to be so… old. He didn't look much older than Alfred, but he acted so much older. He acted like he was ancient.

Come to think of it, he did seem a little senile. Alfred chuckled as he found himself in a large living room. Without even thinking about his actions he swiftly weaved through the various piles of books and other pieces of debris. He quickly collapsed into the armchair next to the fire place. He hadn't realised how tired he was. The night before he had been on a job and hadn't been able to get any sleep. He nocturnal habits were catching up on him like they always did. He knew it was far too early to fall asleep just yet. It would only screw his body clock up even more.

"Would you like some tea, Mr Assassin?" Alfred looked up at the smaller man. He stood a little way away, looking at him with his lazy forest green eyes. Alfred was briefly transfixed with them in his tired, dazed state. He shook his head slightly, to force himself away from the man's gorgeous eyes. He didn't have the time to start swooning.

"Do you have any coffee?" His voice was fainter than he wanted it to be, but he decided not to let it bother him.

"Good lord no, I would never pay for such rubbish, but I do have some hot chocolate around here somewhere. Perhaps that would be preferable?" Alfred was still looking at the man, with his sapphire eyes clouded with exhaustion. He wasn't really sure what he was doing here, but he nodded nevertheless. Hot chocolate sounded pleasant. The man disappeared off somewhere and Alfred was once again abandoned to be with his thoughts. His eyes were drawn to the fire. It flickered and spun and he found himself falling into a deep foggy trance, unable to move, but a calm still settling over him like a mist. Alfred was quite proud of himself for knowing quite a bit about the various kinds of monster sort of creature. In fact he prided himself on it. He knew of a few that could catch a bullet, but the man was like none of them. Unfortunately he wasn't aware of anything that ate lead bullets like chocolate. The whole idea of the man was just stupid and absurd.

Alfred yawned and the minutes seem to just disappear in a haze of the flickering flames that licked the logs like some sort of demon.

At some point the man came back and gave him a steaming mug that warmed his fingers, and tasted like golden sparkles and chocolate. At some point after that the mug was taken back and a blanket was draped over him.

After that everything faded mysteriously to black.

Arthur groaned and rolled over. His bed was so cold. He shivered and pulled the covers tighter around himself. Why was his window open? Who would of opened it? Not him. He shoved his hand out of the blankets and flicked his fingers in such away that the window slammed shut, with an angry clatter.

Arthur opened his green eyes and waited patiently for his vision to clear.

There was someone in his house.

Assassin.

There was an assassin with an inability to assassinate in his house.

Bugger.

At that point in his mental space this was the full extent if his intelligence. Fabulous, he thought to himself, there an assassin in my house and by the smell of it he's making eggs.

He blearily sat up, his hair sticking out in several different directions. He wondered what he ought to do about the assassin making eggs situation. He could always just go back to sleep and wait for the assassin to make haste. No, he was hungry. That wouldn't do. He couldn't let the assassin make him hide in his bedroom for a whole day. The best thing he could do was get in on that egg action.

By some god granted miracle Arthur managed to haul himself out of bed and potter dreamily down the stairs. He yawned as he wandered into the kitchen. Arthur was expecting him. Hell, he had had a whole series of thoughts dedicated to his whereabouts, but some how he still managed to freeze in surprise when he lay eyes on the tall assassin. He hadn't noticed before, but the assassin was quite a bit larger than Arthur was. He was tall and lean and muscular and in many ways quite

drool-worthy. Arthur frowned deeply.

"What are you still doing in my house?" His voice came out in a low disapproving growl. He hadn't realised it before, but he was still pretty pissed off about getting shot at. And he was most definitely going to make the assassin pay for any damage including the window from the tea shop. The assassin spun around. For someone who dedicated their lives to stealth he wasn't particularly stealthy.

"Dude, you invited me" He spoke with a thick american accent, which only annoyed Arthur more. "And it's snowing out there. I don't wanna leave, it's warm in here" Alfred watched the man he had tried valiantly to kill, cross his arms over his chest and mutter something under his harsh breath. Alfred smiled and turned back to the stove, where a few eggs were sizzling happily. He stayed, there flipping the creamy yolks for a few minutes. He had his hand on his hip and was humming quietly as he did. When he turned back around with two plates in his hands, the man had slipped into a light sleep, like had simply been overwhelmed with everything and had decided to go back to sleep until it all just went away. He had seated himself at the bench, on one of the stools. His head was down on his forearms and his eyes were closed. His breathing was deep and slow. He wore only a pair of light blue pyjama pants and an unbuttoned dress shirt. His ancient beauty glowed when he slept. Alfred smiled and put the plates down on the bench. He shook the other man's shoulder. His only response was to bury his head deeper into the crook of his arm.

"Hey, wake up. I made you eggs" at that the man finally raised his head and immediately pulled the plate towards him. He began eating without even looking at Alfred who sat down opposite with his own meal. The other man's hair was so messy that it looked just soft and silky. Alfred had to resist the urge to sit on his hands so that he wouldn't reach out and touch the fine hairs.

"How did you catch the bullet?" I was a fair question, catching bullets was rarely mythically possible, let alone humanly possible.

"Magic" the man didn't even look up from his food, before answering. Though after a second he did raise his head to look at his breakfast companion. "Do you have a name Mr Assassin?" His question was also fair. Alfred wondered if he should give some sort of snappy retort or purposely vague answer like the other man had done. While Alfred did want to get some small bit of revenge for him not properly answering his question he just couldn't come up with anything good enough to say.

"I'm Alfred, Alfred Jones" The other man offered his hand over the marble bench.

"Arthur Kirkland" The shook hands. "So, are you just a bog average human or is the supernatural world trying to kill me as well?" The man now identified as Arthur raised an eyebrow to him, silently demanding an answer.

"I'm a zombie, but it was the human's this time" Alfred words were light, but Arthur frowned.

"A zombie assassin, impressive" Alfred smiled at him. He had died exactly fourteen years ago, when he was 22. He was still in that 22 year old body even though he was actually 36. The only thing that grew was his hair and his nails, everything else just stayed the same. He was stronger and faster than most humans and had brief moments of power, but on the scale of all the monsters in the world, he was a pretty minor force. Hell, if he went up against a demon he would be dead again before the demon had to break a sweat. All he had going for him was a never ending lifespan.

"I think so" It was all he could think to say. "What about you? I ain't never seen a human eat a bullet before" At that Arthur smiled.

"Guess"

"Elf?"

"No"

"Fairy?"

"Nope"

"Big version of a sprite?"

"Unfortunately not"

"Vampire?"

"No"

"Alright, I give up, what are you?" Alfred took a big bite of egg and yolk splattered across his face. He didn't seem to notice, but Arthur gave his yellow cheeks a frown.

"I'm not telling" And with that he stood, put his plate in the sink and walked very calmly away.

"Arthur! You got a letter, but it's in latin and I can't read it" Arthur frowned at the sound of the voice. So the assassin was still in his house after all. Was he ever planning of leaving? The last time he had checked Alfred had been setting himself up in the spare room. It was like he had simply decided to live with Arthur without actually telling Arthur about it. His interest was sparked by the Latin letter though, it also made him happy that Alfred couldn't read it.

He stood from where he was seated at his desk.

"Alfred, where are you?" He called out. Despite how small his house looked on the outside it was quite large on the inside, or so he tried to make it seem.

"In the living room" he yelled back. While Arthur's voice had been demanding and quite harsh the other man didn't seem to notice and responded quite contentedly. Arthur scowled as he made his way to the blond assassin, who stood in the middle of the living room, a piece of paper in his hands. He held it out to the approaching man and Arthur snatched it from him, knowing full well that I could be something very, very bad.

"You know Latin dude? That's cool" the American seemed impressed, but Arthur only scowled at him.

Alfred cautiously watched the other man as Arthur's eyes scanned the page. Flickering quickly from side to side. The Latin remaking it into something understandable under his harsh gaze. Alfred watching his eyebrows knit together and him frown dig deeper. It looked as though the paper was not impressing him in the slightest.

"What's wrong with it?" He prompted.

Arthur's expression became one of complete and utter indifference, but the expression wasn't aimed at the other man.

"They're trying to recruit me" he said with an annoyed sneer. "I would thought they would of figured out that they should leave me alone"

After that Arthur went out for tea at his tea shop and Alfred was left alone in the house to ponder all the strange happenings of the morning. He didn't stall on it for too long and instead decided that he would just find something interesting to do rather than worrying about someone he didn't even know. Still a dark fretful feeling swirled dangerously in his stomach. He liked it more when the mysterious man smiled.

Alfred didn't see Arthur again until that evening and even then he didn't know that it was Arthur. Alfred had spent the past few hours after Arthur left waiting for him to get back. While Arthur's house was big and filled with interesting things he was the most interesting thing in it and like a scientist Alfred yearned to know more. What was the mysterious man? Why was he so old? Why did he eat bullets? How did he eat bullets? So many questions, but Arthur wasn't at home so he couldn't ask him. After a little while Alfred had fallen asleep in the little spare bedroom next to Arthur's own.

In his sleep he had heard the sound of footsteps and then his door opening. A british chuckle had echoed through his head and the door was closed. He figured it must of been Arthur checking up on him. After that he had slipped back into some sort of comatose. When he had awoken again he had found Arthur's coat, hanging by the door. Thinking that he should find the other man and properly interrogate him Alfred began searching the house, from top to bottom. First he went into Arthur's bedroom, which was empty. Then his study, which was also empty. It went on like this until Alfred came to the last door to the last room or lack of. When he had explored the house previously he had gone through this door and found a roof, which he had deemed impossible because from the outside the roof was slanted and their was no way out onto in from inside the house. Still, it was the only place Arthur could possibly of been.

Pushing down his hatred of roofs Alfred opened the door and pointedly climbed the stairs. He came out onto the rooftop garden and looked around. A great green dragon sat there, it's great head raised to the sky, eyes closed. The dragon was huge and covered in shiny emerald scales. Its wings were tucked against his skin and they shone with strength and capability. Alfred watched the dragon's chest rise and fall, his great lungs drawing breath. Spines ran along the back of the great jade beast and onto its tail that curled around him. The dragon looked so careless and so easy. It bordered on lazy.

"Jesus fuck" Alfred muttered much to himself. His breath was captured by the wild beast, and it stuck in his throat. The dragon was very beautiful and they were only a few feet away from each other. Alfred stumbled forward a little, in simple and brutish amazement. As soon as the words parted from his lips the dragon's eyes slowly opened and were calmly moved to Alfred. At that moment Alfred knew it was Arthur. Nobody else had eyes like that. Eyes of wisdom and ancient knowledge.

"I figured it out Arthur" his words were whispered and he felt as though he was on the verge of tears. "You're a dragon"

Arthur seemed to smile. He gently bumped his large head against Alfred's as if agreeing. Alfred laughed and stroked Arthur's head, gripping it like a prize.

After that Alfred returned to sleep, but this time, he was curled under the wing of a great brave dragon. Somehow he had acquired his own fire breathing beast. Every now and then, Arthur would craned his long neck around and nuzzle Alfred, or demand a scratch. Arthur was far more affectionate when he was a dragon and Alfred liked that. Alfred's laughter rang out until it was night and Arthur would occasionally give a deep shudder that sounded almost like a chuckle. After a little while Arthur fell asleep and quietly turned back into a man. After that Alfred had carried the sleeping dragon back inside and tucked him into bed, too embarrassed to remove his clothes so that he would be comfortable. That night Alfred decided that he would be staying in this strange entanglement of a house for a while yet. Until not a single question was left unanswered.

Needless to say Alfred didn't hate roofs anymore.

Author's note:

I think I'm going to pass out soon. It is so late.

Anyway, I really hope you enjoyed this. I don't own hetlaia as much as I wish I did.

With love,

Clementine


	3. Dragons like children apparently

Alfred hadn't previously known that dragon's existed and even if they had previous he had just assumed that they were extinct now. Dragons were not things that were shown in the books. Sure, they had stories, fables and myths, but actual proof of existence was not something they seemed to of accepted or discovered. They just weren't meant to be.

But, nonetheless, there sat Arthur, reading his book and nibbling on lit matches.

"Arthur?" The dragon dragged his eyes reluctantly away from what ever word he had paused from.

"Yes Alfred?" His eyes were expectant.

"How come everyone things that dragons are extinct?" Alfred was thinking that perhaps there was just a secret dragon organisation nobody knew about.

Arthur smiled a calm, sad smile that made Alfred's heart deaden in his chest. There was such pain in those eyes of his. Nothing else betrayed that pain. Sadness maybe, but not the pain that made Alfred's chest ache for the other man.

"Because I… am the only one left" His gentle voice was laden with remorse and the heavy burden of the memories he wanted to forget. He struck a match and lifted the burning end into his mouth with a heavy sigh. There it was again. That age. That lengthy existence that pushed down on his heart everyday.

"Arthur… how old are you?" Alfred wanted to know. He wanted to know if this man was as old as he acted. Arthur laughed sadly. He always looked so directly at him when he spoke.

"Far, far older than you" Alfred frowned and start down next to Arthur on the sofa.

"How old it that?"

Another smile.

"Alfred, I am older than time itself" He laughed to himself, leaning his head back and looking at the celling. "I have been around since the earth was formed and the first fish walked up on land"

Alfred still lay on the sofa, staring at the place where Arthur had been and wasn't any longer.

He shared a house with the oldest being to walk the earth.

A man as old as time itself. It was harder than he would of thought to accept. How to people get that old? How do people just not die? How did that work?

Arthur had come back from his tea shop outing and was making another pot of tea in the kitchen. Alfred stood from his trance, his mind still reeling. He stumbled dazedly into the kitchen where Arthur was in his usual attire. Jacket hanging on the hook by the door, waistcoat undone, calm expression. He was always so calm, but now Alfred could see his sadness, that sadness that he had been unable to notice before. He had his back to the assassin, pouring hot water into a tea cup. His hair had been combed when he had left the house, but it had come undone It was strewn across his face. He pushed it back with a spare hand and looked down at his tea. He caught a pair of green eyes look back at him He hated his eyes. They were the only things he couldn't change. He had the power of centuries at his fingertips, but no matter how hard he tried his eyes always stayed the same. His eyes were the last tie to that time when dragons were still alive and kicking. Flying high and breathing fire and things of that sort. That time when he had not been the last of a species.

His face was dry all for one traitorous tear, that skipped lightly down his cheek. It was just one tear, that was all he would allow it to be. He was far too old to start regretting things now.

He sighed and turned around to get some milk from the fridges for his tea. He tried to wipe away that single tear before another could slip through. Before he could take a step the room disappeared and was replaced with a shirt. Arms wrapped around him and a chin rested on the top of his head. His breath left him as his was trapped in a tight embrace.

"Al-Alfred?" He stuttered, surprise echoing in his voice. Alfred held onto him tighter at the sound of his name. It actively pained him to see the smaller man upset. He had no idea why, but that wasn't particularly important to him at that point. What mattered was that a tear had dripped into Arthur's tea.

"I'm sorry" Alfred murmured into the other man's silvery hair. "I'm sorry that you have to be a last of something" After Arthur didn't respond they stayed like that for a long time. Arms around in each other in silence. Alfred's cheek resting gently against Arthur's soft hair and Arthur's nose buried into Alfred's collarbone. The silence was content and the tea carrying Arthur's single traitorous tear got steadily colder.

The doorbell rang.

For a second both of them ignored it, not wanting to part from their embrace, knowing it would be awkward as hell. Then it rung again and Arthur forced himself to realise the other man's shirt from his tight grasp. He turned quickly, not wanting Alfred to see his blush. He paced quickly to his front door where someone was now bashing on the door and cursing in some foreign tongue.

"Open up, old man! I know you're in there and I'm fucking freezing!" With a frown Arthur opened the door only to be immediately pushed out of the way as a large tanned man came storming in, grumbling and laughing to himself.

_"Deorum hic odi. Suus 'semper cluttered" Gods, I hate this place. It's always so cluttered._ Arthur frowned about what he was saying about his house, but the man didn't even seem to notice he was there, let alone that he was frowned.

"Uncle Arthur" A small happy looking child stood at his feet, with his arms up from Arthur to pick him up. Arthur's sighed. Obviously this was going to be an unwelcome visit. Well, at least he would be able to spend some time with his beloved nephews. He bent down and lifted up the child.

"Hello Feli and how have you been?" The child giggled as Arthur bumped him on his hip. The little boy looked to be around two, barely even a toddler, but already he was speaking and walking quite well. The last time he had checked Roma was very proud of all of his boys.

Next two people that walked through the door were two boys. One of them seemed to be around ten, with a wavy shock of blond hair and long legs and the other seemed to be around eight and had brown olive skin and lightish brown hair. The taller one had another young boy sleeping in his arms. He looked like another version of Feli only his hair was far browner and his skin was just a little bit darker. All the boys looked pretty content.

"Hello boys" both of them smiled at him and greeted him as uncle Arthur. Arthur took the younger boy's hand and started to lead them to their Grandpa, who as jumping around the kitchen after finding Alfred.

"Arthur, you old _spurius_! Where are you?!" The man came bouncing into the hallway, Alfred quickly following him, worry etched onto his face.

"Over here, Roma" the man spun around to greet the dragon, barely even noticing that his children surrounded him.

"Arthur!" The man came running towards him, obviously looking for an embrace. Arthur quickly sidestepped, pulling the smaller boy with him so that he wouldn't get trampled by his adopted grandfather. Roma went stumbling down the hall for a few seconds before immediately regaining his balance and launching himself at Arthur. This time Arthur didn't have anywhere to side step to, so he was essentially tackled and Feli squeaked in alarm. Almost immediately Arthur decided that the man hugging him needed to not be hugging him. He looked up as a tile in the roof, blinked at it and it fell instantly onto the tanned man's head, rendering him unconscious. He fell to the ground with a stupid, expression on his face. Arthur looked at him in indifference for a second before tugging on the younger boy's hand and gesturing to the taller one.

"Come on boys. We'll go to the living room and you can tell me what on earth is wrong with your grandfather" they began to walk, Arthur helping the little boy to hope over the sleeping man. They walked by a star struck Alfred who's mouth was hanging open in shock. Arthur looked at him. "You too Alfred" they all walked into the living room, Alfred stumbling after them, still in shock.

The tallest boy shot a suspicious look back at the strange man in uncle Arthur's house and reached up to tug Arthur's shirt. Arthur look down at him instantly and the boy gestured for him to come closer, the babe still in his arms. Arthur bent down so the the boy could whisper whatever he wanted to say in his ear. Alfred tried to listen to the boys whispered worlds, but he didn't catch anything.

"Oh, well, er, he tried to kill me and never left" the boy immediately looked alarmed and held his brother even tighter to his chest. "Don't worry, I'm pretty sure he gave up once I started eating the bullets he shot at me" the boy chuckled involuntarily. If Arthur remembered correctly Roma had adopted him from France.

"I only did that twice" muttered Alfred. Arthur smiled and sat down on the sofa, sitting Feli down on his knee. He made enough space for the other two boys to sit down next to him.

"Alright, boys, this is Alfred, he's staying with me for a while. Alfred-" he gestured to the tallest boy. "This is Francis and Lovino"

"Bonjour" said the blond boy and the child in his arms yawned, barely awake.

Arthur bounced the other young child on his knee. "This is Feliciano, Lovino's twin" Feliciano giggled happily. Arthur gestured to the other boy, who sat very close to his side as if he was shy.

"And this is Antonio"

"Hola señor"

Alfred took a seat in his usual armchair that he had deemed his own. Arthur looked incredibly proud of the boys.

"So what's up with ya dad boys?" Alfred thought he might of well asked. It was none of his business, but that had never stopped him before.

"Grandpa got a letter and he said it meant that we had to come get uncle Arthur and go on a road trip" the little Spanish boy named Antonio seemed to perk up at the mention of the road trip, like it was something he was looking forward to. Alfred raised an eyebrow at Arthur who just shrugged, knowing that Alfred wanted to question him about his own letter.

"That silly man, why on earth would he do that?" Arthur seemed immensely disapproving of the other man's actions. Feli had moved himself from his uncle's knee and instead was clinging tiredly onto his neck.

"Papa said that people would try and take us from him if we didn't go" Feli's voice was soft and tired. Arthur's frown immediately deepened and his eyes became stony. Alfred looked at him warningly. He had watched a lot of stupid movies about people with too much magic and he could see where this was going. He could practically feel the room crackling with Arthur's suddenly protective magic.

Abruptly Arthur decided that he would put off that worrying idea for later.

"Francis?" He looked down at the blond boy, who looked up at him with a raised eye brow. "Have you guys had supper yet?" Francis shook his head and Arthur stood up. "Okay, men, I have a plan" he pointed to Alfred, with the hand that wasn't keeping Feli to his chest."Alfred, order pizza and a lot of it and two of them must have a lot of tomatos" Alfred saluted him and stomped theatrically away to find the phone. Arthur pointed to Antonio. "Toni, wake up Lovi and make sure that neither of the twins fall asleep until they eat" Antonio nodded, taking Feli from his uncle's arms. Arthur point finally to Francis who was standing, waiting for his orders. "Wake up your father and explain to him what's going on" and with that they got down to business, doing their own separate jobs. Arthur, himself, going to clean out the spare room so the boys could sleep there, wondering where he would put Alfred and Roma for the night.

Alfred sat eating cold pizza with Antonio and Francis. The twins had long fallen asleep in the spare room and the two boys he was with looked a like they were ready to follow in their brothers' footsteps. A few minutes before the strange person apparently named Roma had dragged Arthur out the door to talk to him. It seemed that Roma wanted Arthur to go on this "road trip", but Arthur didn't want to leave. Somehow Alfred doubted that no matter hope hard Arthur struggled he would still end up on the road with Roma and his four boys.

"I am not going on this bleeding road trip of yours, you git!" Alfred heard Arthur yell.

Not minutes later Arthur came walking through the door with his head hung low in submission.

"I'm going on that bleeding road trip of his" Alfred laughed richly and Arthur glared at him. "Shut your trap, you're coming too" he snapped. Both the boys laughed and Alfred frowned. Roma also came through the door looking almightily pleased with himself. He slung an arm loosely over Arthur's slumped shoulders. He looked fondly down at the smaller man and Arthur glared at him.

"Why do I have to come?" Alfred didn't really have any objections, but he would of thought that Arthur wouldn't of wanted him to come, considering that he wasn't exactly pleased that Alfred was setting up residence in his home.

Arthur sighed with a sinister smile.

"Because someone is going to have to look after the kids" Arthur looked very, very smug.

Author's note:

hello once again. I love this. I knew I just needed to get grandpa Rome in there some where and I think it worked out great.

I don't own hetalia which really annoys me by the way.

Much love,

Clementine.


	4. Hungry pups and a threat to crucify

"I think you're beautiful"

This was what Alfred wanted to say, but he didn't because it would of awoken Arthur. When Arthur slept, everything just melted. All the irritation and annoyance and worry just melted off his face and what was left was beautiful. He looked so soft, so slanted and far gone.

Memories drifted back to him. Ones of strange little boys and a big bumbling man that kept speaking Latin and hugging things. Memories of arguing about who would sleep on the couch and who would sleep on the floor and who would sleep in Arthur's bed after the boys had drifted of to sleep in the spare room, that Alfred usually slept in. After a while Roma had laid claim to the couch without even consulting with anyone, leaving Alfred and Arthur in an awkward position. After a while of complaining from Alfred they had agreed that they would just sleep in the same bed and there would be no mention of anything sexual. Ever.

Now, Alfred was afraid to move, in fear that a scowl would replace the look of peace on Arthur's face. He didn't want anything to disturb the sleeping man. Arthur's hand sat on his shoulder and his breathing was deep and slow and methodical, like he was devising some grand scheme in his sleep. His hair was splayed around the pillow they shared. They were so close, yet so far apart. And to think, he had only known this man for a top of three days and he already wanted to close the gap between them. He was also going on a road trip with him to god knows where. It was all a little stupid. This silly need to pull this dragon into his arms and never let him go. Alfred smiled to himself. He didn't question his feelings. If people were going to call it love, then love it was. It wasn't like he could do anything about it. He was quite sure that Arthur didn't recuperate his feelings so he would just try to hide them. The thought saddened him, but it was for the best. There was no appropriate way to confess love to a being who was around when the idea of love was first being experienced.

Arthur, at this point, decided that he was cold and quietly set fire to the bed post. At first Alfred didn't notice the small flame and the odd smell of smoke that filled the air, but as soon as he did he shrieked in panic and grabbed Arthur's arm, pulling the smaller man to his chest, as if trying to protect him. Still deeply asleep Arthur flicked his hand and the fire went out instantly. It seemed to be quite a ritual for sleeping Arthur. Light the fire to get warm, smother it before it actually burnt everything to the ground. Calming down, Alfred slowly released Arthur, scared that he had woken the other man. No, Arthur was still sleeping soundly. His breath not even hitching at Alfred's movements. He was lucky that Arthur was a heavy sleeper.

Even with the other man's arms no longer around him Arthur didn't move from where he lay, sleeping like a babe. Alfred could feel Arthur's forehead resting lightly on his T-shirt and his breath on his arm. He considered pushing Arthur back to the other side of the bed, but he was still too afraid that it would wake him. Alfred closed his eyes and sighed. It was too early to be worrying about such things. He had embraced Arthur once and he would do it again. If Arthur was angry then Arthur was angry, as far as was concerned he would cross that bridge when he got it. Slowly he wrapped his arms around the small man and ran on of his hand through his light hair, relishing in how soft it was. Quietly he kissed the top of Arthur's head and rested his cheek against it.

"I'll look after you"

A good three hours later, the sun had risen and Arthur was still captured tight in Alfred's arms, both of them sleeping blissfully.

It started out with just a small mewl.

"Uncle Arthur"

The boy tugged the back of Alfred's shirt.

"Uncle Arthur"

When neither of the men responded.

"Uncle Arthur!" At this Arthur's eyes sprung open and he sat up on instinct, only to find his was being blocked by an arm. He roughly tugged it away from him until he could sit up properly. Once he did sit up he found that he didn't yet have the strength to stay that way. He instantly just flopped over what he now recognised as Alfred's shoulder. He dragged his eyes over to the child, who was looking tentative and shy. He was wondering whether he had interrupted something.

"What?" Arthur asked, too started feeling uncomfortable about being embraced in his sleep.

"Feli and Lovi are hungry" Antonio said quietly.

"Where's Roma?" Arthur didn't think that he was the first one that the not would go to.

"He's refusing to get up and so is Big Brother Francis" the boy answered. Arthur nodded and considered doing the same as Roma and Antonio. He was warm and comfortable and pretty much ready to go back to sleep. The more he considered it the nicer it sounded, but he still needed to feed to the pups before they started chewing on his furniture.

"Alright, I'll make some breakfast.

Grab me a shirt out of the draw" he gesture to his chest if draws in the corner.

"Thanks, uncle Arthur" the little boy skipped off and Arthur smiled before somehow clambering off the bed and over Alfred. As soon as his feet touched the ground and the blanket fell from his shoulders he felt strong arms around his waist pulling back.

"Don't go" Alfred moaned. "You're my only source of heat" Alfred buried his nose into the soft base of Arthur's spine and Arthur's cheeks

bloomed a scarlet colour. He muttered something under his breath that sounded like "then freeze". Arthur had valiantly attempted to pull away from the arms, but they held tight and his struggles were useless. After a little while Alfred seemed to decide that they man picking sharply at his fingers was not going to let up and become his heated once again, but he still didn't particularly fancy freezing. With a small groan he let go of Arthur's waist and exposed his fave to the cold morning air. He heard Arthur sigh with relief and take a firm step away from the man as he sat up. Arthur took the shirt Antonio was offering and threaded his arms through the sleeves with a heavy yawn. Without any warning Alfred decided he had gotten cold again and decided that he couldn't let Arthur feel comfortable. He instead stood and draped hisself over Arthur's shoulders partially because he was like a fucking furnace and partially because of the way he stiffened and his cheeks flushed a good colour. Alfred smile as he watched Arthur's jaw clench and unclench out of the comer of his eye. He had expected to of been thrown off immediately, but instead Arthur only let out one adorable growl before taking the boy's hand and stomping out the door, Alfred remaining on his shoulders.

"Hey, uncle Arthur?" Arthur looked down at the boy. "Are you and Alfred-" the boy knitted his fingers together and held them up for the two men to see "together?" Alfred immediately snorted, his cheek on the back of Arthur's shoulder,

"No" said Arthur sternly.

"But Alfred was hugging you like grandpa hugs his pillow" the boy couldn't understand why the two men laughed.

"Yes, but I was only doing that because I was cold and he kept setting fire to the bed and I didn't want him to get burnt" Arthur scoffed at Alfred's response.

"I am a dragon, I breath fire and you think I'm going to get burnt?"

"Well, I had to make sure, didn't I?" Arthur growled to himself at Alfred's stupid answer as they turned into the spare bedroom, where two puppies were wrestling on the bed. Occasionally Francis, who was wrapped up in blankets on the far side of the bed, would wave his arm back to keep the puppies from bugging him. Alfred stared at the puppies in awe. It didn't take a look to figure out.

"They're werewolves" he stated, almost to himself. His mind felt numb with sleep. He supposed that he shouldn't of been surprised, Arthur didn't seem the type to socialise with humans. It did slightly confuse him though. So Roma just went around adopting werewolf pups. If he remembered correctly he did remember both Roma and Arthur referring to the boys as 'the pups', so it sort of made sense.

Alfred quietly let go of Arthur so that he could scoop up the two puppies. One of the pup's fur was slightly darker that they others and the golden eyes of one resembled a vibrant gold. They were adorable.

"Wake up, Francis" the boy groaned, his blond hair just peeking out of the covers.

"Non"

"That's such a pity" Arthur sighed deeply. "Because my neighbour just came over, and he has a daughter around your age and I was hoping you two could get to know each other" Francis immediately ran past them and out the door. Alfred watched him in amusement.

"That was seriously all it took?" He looked to Arthur who shrugged and pushed the light coloured scrabbling puppy into his arms. Alfred somehow managed to hang on to the wriggling furball and only sustaining three scratches from his claws.

Somehow they managed to get through morning without too much incident. At some point Roma decided to get to know that Alfred person, which he did by tacking him to the ground, only to be politely knocked out by Arthur and a flick of his finger.

Half way though the day, right after lunch, Arthur was sitting in his usual spot on the sofa. He was reading and sipping tea from an elderly looking tea cup.

Feliciano and Lovino were crawling all over him.

It hadn't taken long for Alfred to figure out that the boys adored their uncle. They seemed absolutely delighted just to be in his powerful presence, even Francis who was still pouting after being tricked out of bed.

"Arthur, its time to go!" Roma was running through the house, beaming. He had already taken the liberty of packing Arthur's clothes. Arthur calmly turned a page in his book, not looking up.

"Go where?"

"On the road trip!" Roma clarified, unfazed by Arthur's lack of enthusiasm. Of course the boys were ecstatic. Apparently going on a road trip was a huge treat.

Naturally for the next few moments Arthur and Roma began to bicker. Halfway to when they were due to finish Alfred sauntered in and noticed that they were going to be late for there flight. He had heard from Arthur the night before that they would be flying over to France to let the real road trip begin. Still, late was late. So very helpfully he went up to Arthur and threw him over his shoulder before the smaller man could let out a word of protest.

"Toni, can you get Artie's suitcase for me?" The little boy cheered at the fact that his uncle had for once been stunned into silence and ran off to get Arthur's suit case. Arthur's astonishment at being thrown over someone's shoulder only lasted for a top of a minute before he started to thrown a fit.

"Alfred Jones, you put me down this instant, or I swear to got I will fucking crucify you!" he screamed, his face red with rage and embarrassment. "And don't you go thinking I don't know how to do that! I was there when they did it!" From behind them Roma laughed, with Feli and Lovi in his arms, they clung to his neck, grinning. "Don't you dare laugh at me Romulus Vargas! I knew you when you were five and I have many embarrassing photos that I won't hesitate to share!" At that Roma shut up and the children in his arms giggled. Arthur continued to shout profanities until Alfred shoved him in the passenger side of the car and told him to be quiet, which he continued not to be. Alfred managed weakly to get all the children and Roma into the car without too much hassle. By the time everyone had their seat belts on and Alfred was behind the wheel, grinning with excitement, they were actually a little early.

"Can you stop in town? I have to make a stop" Alfred looked to Arthur, who had suspiciously stopped fuming and screaming bloody murder, as he eased out of the small driveway. Alfred probably wouldn't of let him, but one look at Arthur's deep frown told him that he was going to whether he had Alfred consent or otherwise.

"I will, but you gotta make it quick"

Alfred watched Arthur and the waitress. Both him and Roma had decided that they were spying on Arthur for his own good, which wasn't strictly true, but it was the best excuse either of them could come up with.

Arthur was out the front of the tea shop with the waitress. It was obvious that he was trying to leave, but she wasn't letting him. Her hands cupped his cheeks, in an intimate gesture, her face smudged with concern.

"Old friend" Roma copied. Only he could hear her with his more sensitive ears. So apparently he was a werewolf also. "Why are you so shy? You can just tell me where you're going, please. I'll worry if I don't know-oh god, this chick is adorable. That lucky bastard" Roma was giggling with delight. Alfred punched him in the arm.

"Shut up, I want to hear what there saying" Roma grinned and Alfred could see Arthur's mouth moving, but Roma had stalled to giggle.

"Okay, okay I'm good" Roma took a deep breath. "Okay so Arthur was just telling her that she really didn't need to know, but she's insisting and this is Arthur right now-" Roma's brown furrowed in concentration. "Well… I -oh my god, he's stuttering- a long time ago these people tried to recruit me for like this sort of army thing and -he doesn't know what to say next- they want me to come in and… just put me into the database… or something" Roma laughed "oh, he has got to get himself out of there. He's so screwed. No one would buy that"

Author's note:

first and foremost, damn the educational system. I really hope you liked this chapter, i thought it was pretty cute. I might not upload for a bit, but I doubt it. Tests are coming up and such,

I don't own hetalia, damn the copy write laws and farewell.

with love,

Clementine


	5. A dragon naps and a zombie wonders

It took an hour to get to the airport and for 45 minutes of said hour Arthur slept soundly in the passenger seat. He didn't stir at all, occasionally would slide a look over to him to make sure that he wasn't setting fire to anything and even more occasionally Roma made bad puns about his extensive age from the back seat.

Alfred knew that the brief, but worrying confrontation with the waitress had rattled him. Before he had been able to say anything stupid Roma and him had derided to send in Antonio and the twins to save him. The woman had immediately become distracted by the cuteness of all three of the boys and Arthur had been so grateful he had thrown Feli up into the air and hugged him tight. After a second Alfred had called out to him an he had kissed the woman on the cheek and told her goodbye. He had turned and carried the boy's into the car without a word. Then he had promptly fallen asleep without speaking to anyone.

Alfred wondered how he knew he. Was she a friend? Was she more than that? He didn't know, but he wanted to. He wanted to shake Arthur until he was told exactly what she was to him. But he couldn't. Not while he was sleeping. He was too beautiful to be disturbed by something as confusing as Alfred's

unwilling jealousy. That would of just been too much of a betrayal.

Alfred hummed to himself as Roma directed him around the airport car park. Arthur was still sleeping and so was Antonio, but Roma made no move to wake either of them. He figured that he could carry Antonio, but why not wake Arthur? Alfred dismissed it until he knew more.

He parked the car and reached over to give Arthur's shoulder a shake, but Roma's hand around his wrist stopped him.

"No" it was the first time that Roma had ever looked serious. Alfred looked at him in alarm. "He won't be flying with us"

"Why?" Alfred frowned, what on earth was going on.

"He'll be flying with his own wings. He'll fly over to Norway, pick up some stuff and then fly back to France, don't worry about him. He just needs his sleep if he's going to do that, so it'll be better to just let him doze for now" Roma's eyes briefly portrayed a look of intelligence and Alfred had to wonder if his silliness was just an act for the public. Alfred sighed, he would interrogate Arthur when he saw him next. Without thought or hesitation he reached over and ran his hand through Arthur's hair, fondness overtaking him.

"See ya Artie" he murmured as he gave the smaller, sleeping man one last look.

The flight disappeared into a fog of whining little boys and plane tickets. Alfred wasn't really paying attention, Roma handled most of it. All he had to do was make sure that the boys didn't wander off and occasionally buying them snacks. He was constantly wondering what Arthur was doing or even if he had woken up yet. Still Roma had said that he shouldn't worry so he wouldn't. Plus he was convinced that Arthur was perfectly capable of taking care of himself, regardless of how stubborn he might of been.

During the actual flight to Paris Alfred spent on his laptop. Half entertaining Feli and Lovi by turning on a little kids movie and half doing half-assed research. Without even thinking about why he wanted to know more about Arthur. About what he was and why he was that way and where all the dragons went. He figured he could of just asked Roma, but he didn't want to. He might of been able to accept that his feelings were complicated it did not mean he was ready to be questioned about it. Anyway, as far as he could see, Roma probably wouldn't be one to keep his nose out of other people's emotions.

Alfred sighed. Lovi and Feli had fallen asleep and the other three were a few seats away watching movies on the screens that were embedded in the back of the seats of the plane. His laptop sat on the small table like thing, but the search engine was empty. He had no idea what to search. He doubted that the human race had any idea what a real dragon was, considering that he, a member of the monsters' eery society, had not known of their previous or present existence. He stared dreamily out the window for a second, the light blue sailing past. He missed his home, he missed his family. He missed America. Good ole' America. Sometimes people would tease him about being so patriotic, but it was just the way that he valued his home above all else. He missed the harsh winds and the warmth. He missed the language and the calm. He missed it all. Soon the flight came to an end as all the information he had gathered was either full on bullshit or extremely doubtful, still he felt like he had at least tried, which was good enough for him.

He wandered vaguely out of the passengers terminal. Lovi and Feli each held on to his hands. Roma walked in front of them with Francis and Antonio, carrying most of the suitcases. Alfred suddenly paused, making Feli and Lovi pause as well. He raised his face to the new, air conditioned air. He wavered briefly. A feeling hitting his chest, causing he eyes to close and his breathing to deepen.

"Alfred?" Feli tugged on his hand, but he barely noticed.

"Hey! Stupido hamburger bastardo! Wake up!" In the short time that he had known Lovino he had learnt that the small boy was foul mouthed in the worst of ways. Alfred looked down at the frowning boy in disapproval. He guessed that he shouldn't of been surprised that the boy had picked up some unsavoury speaking habits considering neither Arthur nor their grandpa held back around him.

"Your uncle Arthur is around here someone" it was all Alfred could think to say. Somehow he just knew. Maybe it was zombie thing he hadn't experienced yet. It troubled him. He had never known where someone was by the feel in the air and it worried him. The little boy was looking at him surprised.

"Where?" That was alarming. He had been expecting some grumpy, swear-filled response, not exactly that anyway. He frowned to himself and pointed, both the boys following his hand.

"Over there, I'm pretty sure" It was in the same direction Roma was pointedly marching, Antonio and Francis following him worriedly. Alfred began to walk again, for some reason desperate to see the smaller man and his green eyes. He wondered fleetingly how the dragon had managed to fly to Norway and back before they had landed. That was faster than any jet plane he knew of. He decided to just assume that it was a dragon thing and moved on.

Roma had paused in his stomp to presumably admire something. They were coming towards the side if the airport where floor to celling windows let people see out into the fast approaching night. In between the panels of glass were square pillars of light blue marble. Roma stood quite a few feet away from one of these pillars in an angry silence. Alfred came up beside him and saw what he was glaring at. Arthur was sleeping at the bass of the square pillar. His hands folded politely in his lap, his head on his shoulder, his mouth all askew.

"That idiot" Roma cursed. Alfred looked to him in curiosity. He didn't look very serious in his anger and fondness was sprinkled over his features.

"Why?" Alfred inquired. Roma laughed, almost bitterly.

"He just flew to Norway and then to France. He's totally exhausted and here he is making a point of showing up at the airport. What a stubborn idiot" Roma was shaking his head as if he was older than the man he described as an idiot.

"Why would he be making a point?"

"I may or may not of told him he wouldn't be able to fly to Norway and back in time to pick us up and here he is pointedly proving me wrong, only to fall asleep while waiting" Alfred shrugged carelessly.

"Where are we staying tonight?" He figured it would be too late to start driving to Spain tonight. The boys would want some dinner and to go to bed soon.

"Some hotel. We'll just book into the airport hotel" Alfred looked to Roma, realising that none of the proceedings were even vaguely planned. No wonder Arthur disapproved so much. He sighed.

"Then I guess I, the hero, will just have to wake him up" Alfred stroll forward, once again relishing in the fact that he thought Arthur was beautiful. He had let go of the twins' hands and was striding forward alone, the boys standing with their adoptive grandpa in curiosity. Alfred knelt down next to Arthur, who stirred at the feeling of a hand on his shoulder.

"Arthur" Alfred shook his shoulder and Arthur stirred again, his bushy eyebrows pushed together.

"Wanker" Arthur muttered as he blearily opened his eyes. He squinted at the man before him as Alfred's features came into focus. "I want some tea" Arthur licked his lips unconsciously. He also wanted to go to bed and for someone to cuddle him until he fell asleep, but he would never admit that. Tea was one thing, but cuddling was quite another.

"Yeah, I know, but we gotta go now. It winter, I'm freezing and I bet that they'll have tea in the hotel" Alfred patted his shoulder awkwardly and Arthur frowned.

"Terrible tea, though" he conceded sadly.

"Yeah, but tea nonetheless. Come on, lets go find out" Alfred stood and offered the smaller man his hand. Arthur sighed and grabbed the hand being offered to him. It was strong and calloused in the most pleasant of all ways. Hard working hands, not like his at all. Alfred quickly let go, looking away, his cheeks becoming rosy. Arthur became instantly confused and also looked away, not understanding Alfred's sheepishness at all.

The evening was spent enjoying strangely French hamburgers and what Arthur described as an active insult to the name of British tea. For a good half of their misadventures in the French capital Arthur spent sleeping. Every time he sat down he would simply drop off to sleep. Eventually Roma and Alfred just stopped bothering to shake him awake, especially after Francis decided to curl up next to him. When they had finally reached the hotel, they had decided to leave the bags in the car, Roma hired and just stumble up to the room without them. Roma booked the only room that wasn't booked which happened to a very nice suite. There were enough beds and everything, considering that the twins would be sleeping together. Alfred had carried Arthur and Roma had carried Francis, both of them sleeping like babies. Arthur had very calmly curled against Alfred's warm chest and Alfred had hoped to god that he couldn't hear his frantic heartbeat. That night Alfred had laid Arthur down on a single bed and pulled the bed covers up to his chin. At that point a deep sadness over took him. How sad it was. To want someone he could never have no matter how hard he tried. It made him feel so weak, to fall for someone like Arthur was like walking in front of a firing squad and expecting not to get shot. It was just stupid.

"Arthur" a voice hissed though the fog. "Arthur" the voice was still hissing and distinctly male. Who did he know who was male? He had to think about this. Roma was male, but the hissing voice was too young. A particular word floated through his mind as he heard the voice hiss various other things like "get up" and "talk to me". This word happened to be one of his favourite words. What a git, he thought to himself. So the criteria was in. The voice had to be male, youngish and a git. He didn't think that Roma or the boys were gits, fools maybe, but not gits. There was really only one person who he thought was a git.

"Alfred" he muttered to himself. He thought Alfred was a git and he was male and he was young. Arthur smiled with pride at working out it was Alfred, but then frowned because he realised he had been woken up.

"Yeah, it's me. Wake up. I want you to talk to me" Alfred's voice had become whiny and childish.

"Go away, you wanker" his voice was muffled by the covers he was trying to shield himself with. Arthur rolled over in hope that once Alfred saw that he didn't want to play he would be left alone to sleep. It seemed that his hope was false for he immediately felt hand pull him back into his previous position.

"Come on, wake up. I just want you to talk to me, I promise I won't annoy you" still that insistent whiny voice.

"You're already annoying me, go away" Arthur tried to bury his nose back into his sheets, refusing to even open his eyes. The covers were rudely torn away from his grasp and he shivered involuntarily. He had never been good with the cold. It had always been his enemy. That seeping chill and cool frank winds. The cold was never a friend of his. Way back someone had told him it was because he was naturally a reptile. Cold blooded and constantly freezing when everyone else was fine.

"Please" it was actively harming him how annoying Alfred was being. So much so that he weakly opened his eyes with a characteristic growl. Alfred's head hovered a little way above his own. He was grinning like a mad man with such triumph that Arthur felt the urge to punch him. His glasses looked, from Arthur's point of view, about to slip right off his nose. He frowned deeply. Still reluctant to release his stance, but he knew that he wouldn't be getting back to sleep at this rate.

"Fine" he said grudgingly. "Go make me some tea and I will talk to you" Alfred fist pumped the air and bounded off, presumably to find some tea. Arthur was well aware that hotel tea was notoriously terrible and he had proven his suspicion the night before, but tea was tea. He groaned and sat up, his bones still creaking with the wear and tear of his previous activities. It was like somebody had taken the time to beat his limbs for hours on end. His shoulder blades especially hurt, where his wings had retreated worriedly into his skin once he had landed.

"Dear god" he could hear Roma snoring in the other room and he could see the moon shining through the window. He had no idea how he had gotten to the bed, but he figured that it was the hotel. Or at least a safe place. He was too tired to care. He could hear Lovino swearing quietly in his sleep through the walls. It must of been a cheap hotel. He would be scolding Roma's lack of standards in the morning, he could tell.

He lent back after pulling the covers back up to his shoulders. He glared out the window at the moon. When he had been younger, which had been quite a while before, he had begun thinking of the full moon as the basketball moon. It just felt appropriate.

A few minutes later Alfred came back holding two steaming mugs and closed the door behind him. One filled with tea and one with hot chocolate. He would of made made coffee if he had not been trying to fall asleep. He gave one to Arthur who glared at him, but still he took the steaming cup. Alfred seated himself on the edge of the Arthur's bed and smiled into his drink. He lifted his knee up on to the soft mattress, his other leg, just touching the ground. He had this silly smile on his face that made Arthur huff as he sipped his tea. He shivered unconsciously, and had to resist the urge to light something on fire.

"So what did you want to talk about, you insufferable git?" His words was harsh, but Alfred was well aware that he didn't mean it.

"What was in the letter?" Arthur saw curiosity sparkling in his eyes. He almost smiled at his stupid expression. He was like a child about to be told a story. And to think this man had tried to kill him twice.

Arthur sighed, internally debating whether to let Alfred in one their little expedition. Alfred was looking at him expectantly.

"A long time ago, maybe two, three centuries I decided I wanted to do something" he paused,gathering his thoughts "it was widely known that I was a dragon and thus considered to be very powerful. They had tried to recruit me many times, but I had ignored them. I guess I signed up because I was bored. Not with life, but just at the time. It's an organisation run by mythicals, but it was created by the human government. The small part that knows about us. I joined, never thinking that they would never actually ask me to come in. Then I realised they were in fact very evil. It isn't the first time that they threatened Roma's boys. I never went in because I was too stubborn to yield to being threatened. They never tried anything with me, they knew they couldn't" he paused again, his eyes briefly clouding over. He took a quick sip of tea to distract himself. Alfred was staring at him intently, caught up in the story. "Don't get me wrong. Their intentions are good, but their methods are enough to make them avoidable" Arthur sighed. "The letter was a letter telling me that I had to come in. They send me one from time to time. They never say anything about why, just that you have too. Roma gets them too, but his must of said something important for him to come and get me" he seemed unnerved by his own presence and Alfred frowned.

"Why did he insist on you coming?" Arthur fixed him with a sad, angry look. But the anger and sadness wasn't directed at him.

"Roma acts like an idiot, but he knows what he can handle. He knows when it's possible for him to be defeated. He… he wanted me to come so that if anything happened to him I-" he stopped suddenly, staring down at his tea. "I could look after the boys"

Oh.

Oh.

So that's what this is about.

My little Artie is scared.

Author's note:

I had to do some leadership course thing today and it was so dull I almost passed out from bordom.

Last time I ever try to broaden my horizons.

Any who, I don't own hetalia, damn everything. I'll see you later.

With love,

Clementine


	6. Blowing off steam by making smoke

He was going to die. He was going to die a horrible, agonising death and everything was just sucky. He had already thought of graphic and disturbing ways to kill all of his companions and swagger off into the sunset, but he didn't let it show. Every fiber of his being wanted to yell and scream and tear out his hair, but his face was set to a blank expression.

Somehow Roma had managed to hire a seven seater van by using a ten year old as his interpreter, which Francis had been suspiciously happy about. Antonio was sitting in the passenger seat of the car with his grandpa next to him. Francis sat in between to Feli and Lovi in the middle seat. He was desperately trying to referee a vicious fight between the two toddlers and Antonio who kept shouting from the front seat. Arthur had briefly been following the fight and he knew the basics. Lovi had said something to Feli that had made him upset and while he had been trying to defend himself against what ever Lovi had said he had accidentally insulted Antonio who had immediately joined in. Needless to say all four boys were yelling, not only in english, but also in their native tongues. The noise was deafening .

He and Alfred were sitting in the seat furthest back. Arthur was leaning on Alfred's shoulder, partially to keep warm, partially to keep himself from burning them all to a crisp. He kept his eyes trained on the page, but the words escaped him. The noise of the squabbling was never ending. Alfred seemed to of zoned out, staring out the window, unable to take part in Arthur's torture.

"Arthur" Arthur barely heard him, he was still thinking up ways to murder the pups. "Arthur" still no response.

"Arthur?"

"Arthur, Arthur, Artie, Arthur, Arthur, Arthur, Arthur, Arthur, Arthur, Arthur, Arthur, Arthur, Arthur, Arthur, Arthur, Arthur, Arthur, Arthur, Arthur, Arthur, Arthur, Arthur, Arthur, Arthur, Arthur, Arthur, Arthur, Arthur, Arthur, Arthur, Arthur, Arthur, Arthur, Arthur, Art, Arthur, Arthur, Arthur, Arthur, Arthur, Arthur, Arthur, come on, Arthur, Arthur, Arthur, Arthur, answer me, Arthur, Arthur, Arthur, Arthur, Arthur, Arthur, Arthur, Arthur, Arthur, Arthur, Arthur, Arthur, Arthur, Arthur, Arthur, Arthur Artie, Arth-" Arthur had elbowed him in the gut.

"There is no need to repeat my name like that, git" Arthur turned his nose up and Alfred grinned despite the fact he had been winded quite badly.

"But you weren't paying attention Artie" Alfred whined. Arthur huffed in denial.

"Don't call me Artie, you twit" Arthur's scowl barely lessened. "Never mind, what do you want?"

"Er… uh, well…" Alfred blushed and his eyes strayed purposefully.

"Spit it out" ordered Arthur, flushing with frustration.

"Well, Arthur. You're smokin'" at this Alfred had to firmly look away, his face as red as a tomato and a frown plastered on his lips.

"What did you just say?!" His voice was shriek. Arthur recoiled in something like horror and embarrassment. Never had anyone ever said that to him, or even implied that they thought so. His cheeks roared into vibrant flame.

"No, no!" Alfred shouted. "That's not what I meant! I'm sorry! You're literally smoking! Smoke is literally coming out of your nose!" Arthur frowned and breathed as softly as he could into the air. A small flame appeared where it shouldn't of. He clamped his hand over his mouth and caught the small bundle of flame before it landed on Alfred legs and burnt him.

"Sorry" he quickly rolled down the window and threw the flame away. He removed his hand from his lips and instead moved it over his nose in a mild attempt to keep the smoke on the inside. Considering it just came out of his mouth Alfred didn't really understand. "Roma!" Another flame out the window. Arthur was trying to yell above the still screaming children, who failed to notice that the car was starting to fill with smoke.

Alfred took Arthur's other hand, noticing the small panic in his eyes. The sort of panic you feel when a bombs about to go off or something of that nature.

"Roma!" Alfred was yelling now, because as much as he loved the way Arthur spoke he didn't want to get brunt to a crisp. "Pull over!" Roma glanced behind him, noticing a new voice entering the mess. Immediately he saw the smoke and swung the can violently to the side of the road. Alfred was thrown onto Arthur, who would of hit his head on the rim of the window had Alfred not wrapped his arms around the smaller man, in an effort to protect him. Alfred tried his hardest to get his hand to cover the back of Arthur's head, his soft hair weaving in between his fingers. Arthur was pushed to his chest and he gripped onto the american's shirt on instinct. He had been red before, but the current shade of crimson brought it to a whole new level. Alfred could tell that if he wasn't desperately trying to set fire to his shirt he would of been yelling at Roma for reckless driving. The boys had successfully decided to pause their fight for a later date, even they could notice when they were brought to a shuddering stop. Everyone immediately evacuated the van, Feliciano and Lovino under Francis' arms. Roma carried Antonio above his head and the boy seemed delighted by this. Arthur scrambled frantically, before launching himself out of the van, Alfred climbing slowly after him.

Alfred tried to reach out to Arthur, but before he could Roma stopped him, with his hand on the younger man's shoulder. The children all seemed to understand what was going, but Alfred was panicking. Arthur looked like he was in pain, crouching on the ground like that. Holding his stomach, his breathing shallow and strained. He wanted to comfort his dragon, but Roma's grip was too firm.

"Artie" he knew that Arthur couldn't of heard him, but he swore he heard his own name repeated back to him. Upon hearing his name Alfred tried to break away from Roma, but it didn't work. He was damn strong and his grip only got stronger.

"Stop it" he scolded. "He's fine, but if you go near him you'll burn yourself and he won't like that. Do you understand? He'll be sad, because he'll think that it was him who hurt you. Do you want him to be sad?" He was speaking to Alfred like he was a child. Alfred paused. He didn't want Arthur to feel sad. He really didn't want that, but he also wanted to hold Arthur because he looked like it was hurting. He didn't know what 'it' was, but it was hurting for sure. He took a step back, if Roma thought that Arthur could deal with it then so did he whether he wanted to or otherwise.

He didn't let his eyes stray from Arthur's form. It was obvious he was trying to control his breathing and he seemed to be doing an alright job. Suddenly he stood, his palms by his sides, his head turned to the sky. Some people driving on the road, looking out their windows at him, in interest and vague fascination. Arthur closed his emerald eyes and filled the sky with fire. Flames left his lips in beautiful flicking formations. They swirled upwards and burnt even the air. The smoke smelt like a bonfire in the winter and filled Alfred with an odd sense of clarity. Warmth pooled in his stomach and his shoulders slumped. Arthur was fine and as far as he was concerned as long as he stayed that way the world was perfect.

"Why is he doing that?" His curiosity was getting the better of him.

"His body isn't used to stress" Roma shook his head. "The more annoyed he is the most fire his body produces, but that fire is meant for a dragon's body, not a human's. He's an animal. He has animal instincts like I do. Even someone as composed as Arthur has to blow of steam" He gestured to Arthur, who was engulfed in flames. "And this is him blowing off steam"

"Oh"

Their stop only lasted fifteen minutes.

"Oi" Arthur poked his head into the front seats, from where he had been sleeping with both of the twins in the middle row of seats. Antonio and Francis were chatting and arguing in the seat furthest to the back. They were a lot warier about keeping their voices down now. Alfred was napping in his passenger seat and Arthur was careful not to wake him up.

Roma vaguely looked toward him, careful to to do any reckless driving like last time. God knows he had gotten such a lecture from Arthur, once he was finished breathing fire and all.

"What?"

"I have a question" his voice was dry and sharp. Roma gulped.

"If I remember correctly we were called to Spain, yes?"

"Yes" Roma clarified. He could just see Arthur's expression out of the corner of his eye.

"Then what on earth…" he paused, taking control of his wary annoyance "are we doing in fucking Austria?" He wasn't yelling. He couldn't do that to Alfred. Their was no need wake the beast.

"Yes, well Arthur, Roderich texted me that the venue has been changed. He wants us to go to his place" Arthur's eyes narrowed, but he seemed to lighten considerably.

"Oh, that's fine then" he nodded understandingly, a slight calm frown on his lips. "How far away are we?" It was obvious from his voice that he wanted to get out of the car. Even dragons have to stretch apparently. The boys cooed agreement.

"About an half an hour to go" Roma laughed. "I was just about to wake you up"

"Thanks" with that he flopped back into the back seat. Feli clung on to his arms and nuzzled his elbow causing him to smile.

Author's notes:

this is such a short chapter and I feel really bad. It also just kind of sucks, but I swear to god I have a great idea for the next chapter so just… humour me here.

Anyway I don't own hetalia blah blah blah, you know it anyway.

With love,

Clementine


	7. Honey and feathers and fashionably late

Roma yawned as he removed himself from the drivers seat.

"Nono" Feli tugged at his pant leg and on instinct the man bent down and picked up the small boy, only to find that he had accidentally picked up two small boys instead of just one. One of the boys climbed playfully into his hair, the other decided to nestle into the crook of his arm.

"Abuelo" another gentle coo of a young boy, this one perhaps a little older. He felt someone jump onto his back and hands wrap around his neck. Soft brown hair was rubbed against his neck causing him to laugh. A small face was pressed into his sweater clad shoulder and he felt a small smile.

"Papi" a hand was slipped into his own and he looked down on the small French boy, almost laughing with delight. Here were his boys and Arthur was there too and everything was fabulous. He was even technically on holiday, how wonderful.

Meanwhile Arthur was struggling to get Alfred out of the car. He opened the car door with a complementary grumble, unfortunately as soon as he did so Alfred came tumbling out, still snoring.

"Jesus Christ, you twat" he wasn't really talking to Alfred, but more to the force of gravity. He struggled to keep Alfred from toppling onto the gravel.

"So warm" Alfred was cooing in his sleep. The larger man obviously had the superior strength in any struggle, especially one with Arthur who was far less robust. Arthur was slight and weak, but Alfred was strong and capable. Big hands were smothering him, seeking his warmth. "So warm" Alfred buried his face into Arthur's collarbone, nuzzling against his inhumanly warm skin. Arthur's face went the shade of a tomato. "So warm"

"Alfred" Arthur's voice was low and threatening. "I am a dragon as old as time itself and I swear to god, if you do not get the hell off me right now I will snap your neck and leave you on the side of the road to rot" almost immediately Alfred jolted from his sleep, pushing up and away from Arthur. His eyes were wide and startled. His sleep near forgotten.

"Good morning" he said after a brief pause.

"Morning" Arthur's voice was dry and irritable, Alfred was still hanging onto his shoulders to keep from falling out of the car. They stared at each other, trapped in embarrassment on one side and annoyance on the other. "Get away from me" Arthur scowled at him and Alfred immediately jolted backward, back into the van. With one last glare Arthur walked away, towards the front of the scruffy vehicle. Alfred looked around, suddenly beginning to notice that he had no idea where he was. He had a faint memory of Arthur saying something about Austria. He didn't remember much. What happened to Spain? He wondered if he ought to be worried about the fact that they weren't where they had planned be. He shrugged to himself as he followed Arthur's footsteps out of the van.

He looked around.

They seemed to be somewhere in the country side. Fields stretched out forever and the only building in view was the one before them. It looked like a hall or perhaps a castle. A palace either way. It looked almost four stories tall and had such beautiful architecture it was almost painful. Every detail was purposeful and forthright. It was obvious that the building wasn't a modern one, it was classical in just the right way. They were in a small car park, that was surprisingly filled with cars of all shapes and sizes. A Ferrari here, a paint splattered jeep there.

Roma and the boys stood together with Arthur looking at the building, that might of been a house. Arthur was still scowling.

"Why are there so many cars here?" He joined Arthur and Roma as they stared at the building. It seemed odd that there were so many cars in a place as secluded as this. A harsh wind blew over the flat plain and Alfred hair was thrown into his glasses. He pushed them back up his nose in habit.

"We're late" Arthur answered dryly. He was obviously tremendously unimpressed by their lack of timing.

"Fashionably late" Roma corrected with a smile. Arthur huffed with a light frown. He didn't look like he was ready to face whatever was inside the house.

"No, just normal late" Arthur stood with his arms crossed, looking at the house with a squinted glare. He felt Alfred clap him on the back, making his splutter in surprise. He looked to Alfred who was grinning widely.

"Cheer up Artie" he said. This man was too jovial for his own good.

"Do call me that" Arthur growled as he rubbed his shoulder.

"What? Artie? But it's such a cute nickname!" Alfred was still grinning. Arthur grumbled to himself as Roma strides towards the grand doorway, the pups still clinging to him. Arthur followed with no small amount of reluctance, he seemed to of accepted that he didn't have a choice nor had he ever had one. Alfred skipped after Arthur, still partially in awe of the building and it's beauty. He began to hear the faintest sound of the piano being played and something that vaguely resembled frying pans being hit on people's heads. How strange.

He glanced to Roma as he swung the door open as if he owned the place. He followed Arthur through the door, noticing that the lock had been melted. He smiled at the thought that Arthur was helping a break in. At least he was guessing it was a break in.

The hall way, like the exterior, was huge and grand. The celling was high and had diamond chandeliers hanging from it. The floor was clad in plush carpeting. Mirrors and painting sung from the walls and the air smelt like lavender. Various doors lead off from the hall way, made of dark wood and pretentiousness.

"Roderich, get your ass in here right now or so help me I will give you a fucking concussion!" The loud voice assaulted the eery silence. Other voices joined the first creating a muffled uproar of laughing and arguing. Arthur raised an eyebrow, almost to himself. Roma paused next to a door and turned to Arthur with a smirk. He gestured to the door with the voices coming out of it.

"This one, you think?" Arthur pressed his lips together, trying desperately not to smile. Just that look on his face made Alfred smile. Arthur's smile was welcome any day. Arthur nodded to Roma and the older looking man threw open the door in one movement. All of them looked into the room that seemed not to notice their arrival. People were gather around a large circular table, different accents mingling together. Alfred grinned at the sight as Arthur and Roma headed towards two chairs. It was obvious that they were meant for them. Two cards betrayed their identities.

Romulus Vargas

Arthur Kirkland

Roma put down the boys onto the floor and gave Francis some instructions. By the look in his face it was obvious he had heard these instructions before. He wandered off, brothers in tow. Roma sat down in his seat, but Arthur and Alfred remained standing side by side to watch the show.

A man was running in circles around the table being chased by a fierce looking woman wielding a fry pan. The man had black hair and a mole on his lower left cheek. He was dressed in a coat and was breathing had. The woman was beautiful in a caring, tough love sort of way. Every space around the table had a person seated at it. Almost all of them were yelling. Alfred could see that none of them were human. There was a group of five vampires at one end of the table and a small group of three demons at the other, their horns curled up wards. These were some powerful people.

The man and the woman were on their third lap around the table and they were both gradually slowing down. Alfred spied a small group of children at the head of the table. Two of the children he knew, one of them he didn't. The boy he didn't know had moon white hair and a distinct lack of pigment. His crimson eyes were glimmering with mischief. Alfred smiled, watching the children crouch behind a piano he had failed to notice.

Francis and Antonio and the other boy were obviously planning something mischievous. He watched as the white haired boy stuck his leg out in front of the running man, Francis and Antonio posed and ready behind him. Alfred grabbed Arthur shoulder and pointed as the man fell. Almost everyone was looking at them. Francis leapt out from behind the white haired boy carrying a large bucket of honey that was immediately thrown over the fallen man. After Francis had finished Antonio came out from behind his older brother and burst a large feather pillow over the man. By this point the room had fallen silent with surprise. For a few seconds their was only silence to accommodate the prank.

Suddenly a roaring laughter filled the room and all eyes switched to the source. Next to him Arthur was cracking up. Tears were rolling down his face and his laughter bounced off the high celling. He was weeping into Alfred should.

"Oh god. That was brilliant" he rasped. For a second there was only Arthur's laughter that filled the air, but then another round of laughter joined his own and this one was toned by a Russian accent. One of the demons had started to to laugh as well, his horns were shaking with glee. His hair was ashen white and his eyes were a peculiar shade of violet. They were oddly beautiful. One by one the rest of the room began to laugh. Deep voices, soft voices, harsh voices, tentative voices, all of them echoing as one. People were hugging one another as they hooted, their arguing soon forgotten. Tears were streaming down faces and grins grew so wide that they almost ripped.

Somehow Alfred found himself on the floor holding Arthur's tightly to his chest gasping for breath. Arthur was in marginally the same state, his laughter given in hiccuping sobs. He had such a great laugh. It was light and cheerful. Alfred had a hunch that Arthur only laughed when he really meant it. Their was no fakery with this guy.

Slowly they stood together. Arthur was unconsciously leaning on Alfred for support. Alfred's arm was still clamped around his small waist, on instinct. The whole room was shuddering with dying laughter. Roma was leaning on the round table, giggling stupidly, tears already caressing his cheeks. A tall, blond man stood next to him, his broad shoulders shaking, his hand covering his eyes. He was obviously trying not to laugh. His hair was long and had a braid running through it. He looked about the same age as Roma, only a little more mature. Pointed ears peek out of his hair and his skin was tinged a slight green. An elf.

"That's my boy" he chuckles, his cheek rosy with giggles.

Roma laughs again as if its some sort of inside joke.

Finally the laughing ceased and a few people collapsed into their seats, some of them still giggling, most of them wondering what is going to happen next. Arthur was no longer laughing or gasping for air, instead he had a distinctly satisfied expression on his face. Alfred had moved his arm from around his waist to around his neck, tugging him closer to his chest, in a playful fashion. Arthur was leaning into him and was resting the back if his hand on his hip. They looked so smug, like they had accomplished something.

The man who was still covered in honey and feathers held Francis and the white haired boy's elbows like they were trophies. His expression is grim and embarrassed.

His eyes click to Arthur, filled with murder and rage.

"You" his voice is filled with the venom of a thousand vipers "you set them up to this didn't you?" Arthur tried to hold back giggles. Everyone knew Arthur would never do such a thing. "How dare you, young man? You ought to respect your elders" at this almost everyone burst into laughter. He had just said that to a being as old as time to respect his elders. "And who the hell are you anyway? What are you doing here? And who is the man behind you?" Arthur looked at him triumphantly and before Alfred could answer for himself Arthur opened his mouth.

"He's my zombie boyfriend who helped me conspire against you" both of them burst into giggles again. The man looked just about ready to pop with rage, only making the two of them laugh harder.

By the time that the second bout of laughing was finished Arthur had sunk into his chair and Alfred was deprived of the smaller man's warmth. The white haired boy had run into the tall, blond man's arms. They sat in the blond man's chair, next to Roma who had Francis and Antonio on his knees. Several of the people were lying on the floor. One of the vampires in the far corner had the smallest vampire of his shoulders. Another two of the vampires were chasing each other, one looking murderous, the other laughing happily. The last was still sitting with a bird that Alfred thought was a puffin, talking grumpily with an Asian boy.

How silly it all was.

Finally what seemed to be some sort of meeting truly began. The man who was the victim of the boys' prank had stalked off to presumably have a hot shower and the woman who had been chasing him took over.

"Alright guys, we're here for a reason, could the children leave the room please?" Roma and the blond man shooed the boys of their laps and they darted together out the door.

"Why don't you tells us why we are here, da?" It was the demon again, his eyes twinkling her way.

The woman cringed.

"Of course Ivan" her nose crinkled and Alfred noticed that her legs disappeared into nothing ness and she hoovered a little way above the floor. A ghost. So there was another dead person around. "A few weeks ago we got a tip off that the mythical terrorist organisation is making a move. We decided that involving the human military would create too much havoc and sense this is a mythical threat it would only be appropriate for the most powerful mythicals in our little operation be called upon to deal with it" there were several grumbles all around the room. "If you could remain quite for a short while I would like to make sure everyone is here" her voice was smothered with a thick Hungarian accent. She pulled out a clip board from the air and lifted a pen from her pocket. She began to call out names, in order of age. Youngest first, oldest last. Alfred tried to remember all the names. The room seemed to be made up of families. There was the family of demons and their servants. The large male one was named Ivan and seemed to be terrifying everyone. His two sisters were Kat and Natalia. Natalia was creepy and Kat really wasn't. Then there was the tall elvish man, who was presumably the guardian of the white haired boy. He responded to the name Old Man Fritz. It must of been a nick name. After that it was the Asian family. The eldest, who was apparently over 4000 years old and the second oldest to Arthur, was named Yao and was incredibly protective of his children. A young man loitered next to him. He called himself Kiku and he had a little girl at his hand named Mei. The woman who was calling out the names had implied before that there were more of them, but they were probably playing with the other children. Alfred heard someone call her Elizaveta. She seemed nice, if not fierce. Then they came to five vampires that didn't seem to be related except for the boy with the puffin and the man who had been chasing the taller man. The smaller one seemed reluctant to call them brothers.

"Arthur Kirkland?"

"Here" Arthur had somehow found a cup of tea without actually rising from his seat. He sipped the warm milky liquid from a China teacup, emerald eyes alive and bright, but his expression neutral.

The woman named Elizaveta looked at his in surprise. She didn't look like she had been expecting an answer.

"You actually came" a big smile lit up her face. Arthur nodded grudgingly.

"I did"

The rest of the day was spent, not assigning jobs about this mythical terrorist group as Alfred would of thought, but actually assigning rooms and planning the next day. Apparently even the most powerful people on the planet got lazy.

"I'm sorry boys. We weren't expecting you so we don't have any beds as yet" Arthur and Alfred were loitering in the grand building's kitchen. Alfred had first thought that the house was a council building or perhaps a city hall without a city, but now he saw that it was in fact a house. A huge, inflated house, but a house nonetheless. Big enough to house 22 people and only have two left over. "You can perch on the roof, can't you, Arthur sweetie?" Arthur nodded and sipped his tea.

"Of course"

"Now you" Elizaveta turned to Alfred who was leaning casually on the marble bench. "Well, you can either sleep in Ivan's room or we can put you on the sofa in one of the drawing rooms. Which would you prefer, sweetheart?" Alfred shuddered at the thought of sleeping in the same room as Ivan.

"The sofa please ma'm" The woman smiled at his manners and Arthur raised an eye brow.

"Of course sweetie and please call me Lizzy. No need for formalities here" Alfred nodded as he was lead away from Arthur. Before he left the kitchen trailing the woman a band of kids came rushing in, Roma and Old Man Fritz following hastily Feli and a small blond boy in black came running in front, clutching each other's hands.

"Ravis! Wait for me!" An other boy, perhaps eleven ran after a brown haired boy about the same age.

"Peter! Chase me, chase me!" The brown haired boy squealed gleefully. After them came two Asian children clutching each other with Kiku just about the scoop them up into his arms. Then came those mischievous three. The white haired, elvish boy his guardian had called Gilbert, Francis and Antonio. As Alfred was dragged by the sleeve out of the room he turned to Arthur, just in time to see his hand flick and for the children to disappear. A small smile appeared in his face as Roma and Old Man Fritz look about in alarm. Well, an old man must have his fun.

That night was the first time that Alfred ever heard Arthur roar.

It was a deep, guttural, powerful sound that echoed, like it came from deep inside of him. Alfred had hugged his pillow tighter to his chest as he slipped off to sleep. This wasn't Arthur's battle cry. The roar wasn't fearless or violent, it was strong willed and stubborn. It was a roar telling everyone to go to sleep. A feeling of safety washed over Alfred. He was safe because an ancient dragon was watching over him. There was suddenly nothing to worry about.

Author's notes:

thank god this is finished. This is by far one of my favourite chapters. I just had to get the bad touch trio in there somewhere and Germaina was so cool to write. Oh, I can just feel it. This is going to be so much fun.

Much love,

Clementine


	8. Waking beasts with menacing reminders

He could barely see anything. He hadn't seen Arthur since the kitchen disappearance act, but he supposed that he was on the roof. That was what Elizaveta had said at least. He climbed the spiral staircase, slowly and methodically. Tiredness was within his bones, but he couldn't sleep. He had always thought that the expression too tired to sleep was just an expression, but now… well, lets just say, he had seen the light.

He came to a door and paused, staring at it in tired amazement. After a little bit of consideration he placed his hand on the cold handle and opened the door that might of been over a hundred years old. The hinges were old, but they didn't make a sound as the door swung open. He stared out on to the courtyard on the roof. He was only guided by the light of a half formed moon, but the darkness didn't frighten. Before he had met Arthur all he had done was converse with the darkness and it continued to flatter him. He had never been scared of the darkness, just the things that lurked within it.

The courtyard was big and flat, but Arthur was nowhere in sight. Alfred moved out of the doorway, a cool night breeze ruffling his hair. He subconsciously hoped that Arthur wasn't too cold. The fresh air filled his lungs and he closed his eyes, feeling ever so slightly at peace.

"Arthur" His voice was barely a whisper. "Artie" His voice was louder now, but not by much. He didn't want to disturb the night's silence. He owed so much to the darkness, he didn't want to shatter it's trademark. Still he yearned for a company only Arthur could provide. "Arthur" he still couldn't summon his voice louder than talking volume.

From somewhere off in the darkness he heard a snort, the type of snort you would expect of a dragon. In one of the far corners of the courtyard was a tall tower. Tall enough to hold Rapunzel, perhaps taller. If he remembered correctly Elizaveta had referred to it as the north tower. How daunting, tall and black. Right at the top was a little place where a beacon fire must of once been lit. Tall pillars, held a pointed roof above the beacon, like a shelter. The dragon's perch. Alfred could only just see its outline, but he craned his head to look up at it anyway. Just as he did a great figure emerged from the beacon and onto the roof. Arthur looked like something from a child fairytale. His wings were still spread, only enhancing his magnificence. Alfred's breath left him as he stared at this creature of great splendour.

He heard Arthur growl, so waking up a sleeping beast really was waking up a sleeping beast. Arthur launched himself into the air and Alfred gasped. The dragon's wings beat down upon the air as he landed, with another growl. His claws scrapped the stone of the count yard and Alfred was forced to notice how sharp and long they were. Arthur really was a man of mass destruction. He was so powerful, but he wasn't invincible. He was far from invincible. He was practically human in that sense. Before he had descended to sleep on the drawing room couch he had been trying to find bathroom only to discover a great library right at the back of the castle. Going on a whim he had searched for books of dragons, thinking that perhaps a library owned by a mythical might have some actual facts about mythicals. He had only found a single book, with the label 'dragons'. It looked like an elderly book and as he had pulled it open he had forced his fingers to me gentle. He had flipped to a random page and read the passage. Apparently while Arthur was in his human form he had no way to heal himself and hips body was as frail as the beings it mirrored. So while Arthur was human he was weak. He could use what powerful magic he had, but he was fragile and unable to heal himself. He was breakable.

_Alfred_, a voice cooed into his mind, _what are you doing here?_

Alfred almost shuddered, but he recognised that voice. That voice like velvet. Arthur's dragon voice was a little different from his human voice. It was deeper and gentler. Arthur began to walk around him. His long scaled tail slithering past the other man's bare feet.

"I couldn't sleep so I came to find you" Alfred said triumphantly. He felt rather proud of himself for now being scared of something as terrifying as Arthur. He didn't turn as Arthur skulked around him, his wings now held to his body.

_You couldn't sleep, so you decided to wake me up? _

The dragon seemed to raise an eye brow at his response. Even in the darkness Alfred could tell he was annoyed.

"Oh come on Artie. You were going to wake up anyway. I just helped" the dragon huffed disapprovingly, but also seemed to shrug. He came to stand in front of Alfred. He lowered his head to the man, his eyes blinking slowly. He was still quite annoyed about being woken up, but he didn't mind the company.

_What do you want?_

Alfred reached his hands up to Arthur's face, his fingers, scratching under Arthur's chin. The dragon shook his head with a faint growl.

"Ha ha, Artie. You ask that like you care"

_Don't call me that_

With one great leap, Arthur leapt into the air.

"Hey, where are you going dude?" Alfred asked frantically. He didn't want to be abandoned that soon. He still wished to converse with the dragon.

_There is a door and I feel no need to carry you _

Arthur's head gestured to the small door Alfred could barely make out at the base of the tower.

"Oh"

_Alfred, how did you die?_

Arthur knew what he was picking at. It was a well know fact that wizards are only able to resurrect a person if they had died a cowardly death. Alfred was curled against Arthur's belly one of his wings covering him and keeping him warm in the chill of the night. Alfred frowned deeply,

"Why do you ask?" It was a little odd talking out loud when you're answering someone talking inside your head, but Alfred had long gotten used to it. He looked to Arthur, his head was leaning down on his front paws, his insightful green eyes sparkling with knowledge.

_Curiosity, now answer the question_

Alfred sighed, Arthur was being too persistent. His attempt to distract the dragon had failed and now he was left with those emerald eyes twinkling in the fire Arthur had lit.

"It happen when I was 22. Ha, it was so long ago" he settled back, trying to get himself relaxed. This was Arthur, he was only judgemental about the things that didn't matter. It was fine. Still Alfred couldn't help the gnawing feeling in his chest. That sadness he always had. "I got stabbed… by a mugger. I was coming home from a uni class, I was taking law and I wanted to get home real quick. My brother had gone home a few minutes before me, but I couldn't see him ahead. I… I just figured he got a lift from his boyfriend. I was walking past an ally and I heard a scream, so I looked in. My brother… my Mattie died because I ran away. I could of saved him, but I was too scared. One of the muggers ran after me a stabbed me in the chest three times. It took me four minutes to die" Alfred lift up his shirt and showed Arthur the scars if where the knife had entered his body. Arthur watched on in thoughtful silence, his emerald eyes looking at them without judgement or thought. "I loved him very much, I did. But I was cowardly and now I gotta be the hero. I gotta be brave" Alfred's eyes glimmered in the low light.

_Be quiet Alfie. You've started butchering the English language. _

Arthur nuzzled Alfred neck and Alfred laughed weakly, reaching his hands up and running his fingers over Arthur's soft, warm scales. Never did he think he would be having midnight conversations with the last dragon alive in a tower that belonged to a castle somewhere in the middle of Austria.

"Alfie? Does this mean I get to call you Artie?" Arthur gave him a cross look and knocked his large head against Alfred's to scold him.

_No. _

Alfred laughed again and Arthur replaced his head back onto his front claws.

_Sleep now git_

"Boys! Wake up, you adorable idiots!" A sing song voice echoed up the spiral staircase leading to the top of the tower. The sound of a wooden spoon being banged onto a fry pan came stomping up to the slumbering beasts. By this time Arthur had reverted to his human form in his sleep and the view was quite different from what it had been that night.

Elizaveta stood in the door way still banging her fry pan with a huge smile on her face, just from the sight of him. Alfred was using Arthur's shoulder as a pillow, with his hands folded over his stomach. Arthur lay on his tummy his head still resting on his hands. Unfortunately Arthur's wings had decided that they would stick around for a little longer than everything else. They still stretched as far as before, partially covering Alfred as they sprouted from under Arthur's shoulder blades.

"What…?" Alfred muttered, rubbing his eyes groggily and wondering where his glasses had gotten to. He heard Arthur give a hearty yawn and snort some smoke and he could fell Arthur's heart beating beneath his head. Such a stubborn heartbeat for such a stubborn person.

"Good morning, Elizaveta. Please go back to bed" Arthur sounded dry and Alfred felt the need to ask why. Then he noticed that the sun was only just starting to appear of the horizon and he felt dry too.

"But, Arthur!" The woman whined like she was a little girl. "You have to get everyone up, I can't do it by myself"

"Elizaveta, I am not an alarm clock" then Alfred got it. Elizaveta wanted to get Arthur to roar so everyone will wake up. Alfred grinned and squinted at the woman hovering just above the cold stone floor. She was blurry without his glasses.

"Well" Elizaveta gained the evil, scheming look if someone pulling out their secret weapon. "I hope you haven't forgotten our little bet, my dear. Because I certainly haven't" Alfred felt Arthur tense beneath him and his wings twitched violently. Then, suddenly, he wasn't where he had previously been. Instead he was suspended in the air with Arthur's arms around his chest. The wind was blowing and Arthur was yelling and beating his wings against the air in a frantic attempt to keep them from falling. Alfred then noticed that he was slipping through Arthur's struggling arms and he was also going to throw up.

"Arthur!" His scream thankfully didn't fall I deaf ears. Arthur was still yelling at Elizaveta who had begun to yell back, but his arms tightened around the larger man's torso. Alfred frantically tried to scramble up Arthur's thin frame. He twisted himself around and clung to Arthur's neck, his hoarse screams pulling the dragon away from his heated argument.

"Okay fine" he heard Arthur mutter. He was then promptly dropped on the coned roof of the become tower. He wrapped his arms around its black spire for dear life.

"Leave me alone, woman!" He heard Arthur yell. "I'll roar! I'll roar, just leave me alone! God dammit!" And with that a loud sound rumbled out of Arthur and Alfred was force to shiver with it's power and it's volume. It was a lot clearer now that the source was just below him. The tower shuddered with it force. It was amazing. Brutal and gentle and confronting and hiding and all. It was so amazing all the fear melted out of him and his previous panic dissipated into the cool morning air.

"Jesus Christ" he muttered to himself as he wrapped his legs around the spire. He heard the large wooden door slam with triumph. Arthur fluttered up to the roof soon after.

He seated himself in the roof a little way away from Alfred, grumbling unhappily to himself. He wrapped his arm around his knees and placed his chin upon them, his wings were quivering with anger and fright. As they shivered Alfred noticed the sharp horns that spiked at certain places around the rim of his wings. They were sharp and pearly white, made specifically for battle. That's what Arthur was, wasn't he? He was a creature born on the offence. Born to be in battle and win against all the odds. Alfred sighed.

"You could of put me done inside the beacon you know" Alfred said disapprovingly, still clinging to the spire. He didn't particularly like being deposited three hundred meters in the air on a sloping surface. At least Arthur had wings, if Alfred fell he would land at the same pace.

"No, I couldn't" Arthur didn't looked back at him, but still huffed at his words. "I would never let you down there with that woman. She probably hold you hostage or something"

"I'm touched" Alfred said sarcastically. He saw Arthur smile softly. Very slowly he eased himself down to Arthur until they were sitting next to the smaller man. Alfred shivered and wrapped his arms around the smaller man. Arthur looked to him in horror only to find the man's head resting on his shoulder.

"What the hell are you doing, wanker?!" He screeched. Arthur would of tried to push him away had he not of been wary of his abilities to catch a large, lean, falling man. It was too risky even for someone with the abilities Arthur controlled.

"I'm holding you" Alfred looked up at him and then away again, unfortunately he wasn't quick enough for Arthur's reptilian eyes to not catch the faint red on his cheeks.

"Why?" It was a totally fair question.

"Because I'm freezing and I suspect that you have a fire in there somewhere and I intend for it to keep me warm" Arthur didn't know whether to be impressed that Alfred had said something actually intelligent and logical or horrified that he was being used as a heat source. Instead he did neither, opting instead to just ignore the other man's presence entirely. Alfred seemed content with that.

"Hey Artie?" Or not.

"What? And don't call me that, you git" Alfred grinned, tightening his arms around the small waist of Arthur. Alfred loved it when Arthur got annoyed. He was just so much fun to wind up.

"What bet was Elizaveta talking about?" Arthur slid a look over to him, but seemed to soften. Another thing he liked about Arthur.

"Well, a few centuries ago we made a bet that if I ever came back to this house I would have to…" he trailed off, his cheeks burning. Obviously it was bad. "I would have to kiss Yao" Arthur buried his face into his knees and Alfred laughed softly, but then felt a jab at his chest.

"You won't actually do it, right?" He asked fearfully, somehow managing to smother a brief stutter.

"No!" Arthur wailed as if he was opposed to even the thought. "I would never kiss that asian wanker. God, Alfie. Never ever" Alfred laughed with relief.

"Well, I can't have my dragon going around kissing people, can I? It would ruin my reputation" Arthur scoffed and was reduced to a stuttering, blubbering mess. He was obviously astounded by Alfred's choice of words.

"I do not belong to you Alfred!" was all he could manage. Alfred pushed his nose into the soft crook of Arthur's warm neck.

"Sure you do" Alfred said light heartedly, his voice muffled by Arthur's soft skin. How do you get skin so soft? It was like feathers smoothed out. So lovely. So reserved. After a little while Arthur's head rested on Alfred's hair and they both began to watch the sun rise on the horizon. Both their faces alight with the orange glow.

"Hey, look" Arthur said softly. He raised his head and pointed. Alfred dragged his eyes away from tentative sun, trying very hard to focus on the balcony Artie was pointing at without his glasses. He could just make out two figures. Noticing his squint, Arthur brought his glasses out from the inner pocket of his waist coat and held them out to him. Alfred rushly put them on, sitting up properly and removing his arms from around Arthur, much to his own personal dismay.

"Roma and Old Man Fritz" Alfred said, in conformation. "Isn't it a little early for drinking?" The two older men were sitting together in their pyjamas, Roma with a glass of red wine, Old Man Fritz with a mug of golden beer. Arthur laughed at his observation.

"It's never too early for those two. Ever"

"I've been meaning to ask, what is with those two? I mean, mostly Roma. Why are his kids from all over the place?" Arthur nodded understandingly.

"Feli and Lovi are his real grandkids, their parents died about a year ago. They stayed here for a few mouths while they tried to track down Roma who was in Spain with me at the time. He adopted Francis from France cause he's parents didn't want him after he had been bitten when he was three. He adopted Antonio two years later for the same reason. Now he just considers all of them his boys. He loves them very very much" Arthur nodded to himself, still looking at the werewolf and the elvish man.

"And so do you" Alfred finished for him.

"And so do I" Arthur said laughing. "Anyway, while Feli and Lovi were staying here Feli met HRE who's Old Man Fritz's youngest. Through them Roma and Fritz met. They had known each other way back, so it was more of a reunion. They're really good friends"

"What about Fritz's kids?" Curiosity picked at him. Wanting to know more about the strange group of people gathered in the castle.

"As far as I know he has three boys. Two of them are all grown up now. The eldest, Roderich, is the man who fell prey to the prank and he's Elizaveta's husband. The middle child is a man named Vash who always seems to be carrying a gun. I think that he and his adoptive little sister will be arriving today. Then the youngest is HRE who is a huge fan of Feli's. He's the little blond boy, that is always clad in black" Arthur laughed to himself at the thought, but Alfred looked at him confused.

"What about the white haired boy?"

"Ah, well thats very complicated. Did you see Ivan's family's servants?" Alfred nodded. "Well, Gilbert is their brother, but they already have Ravis, the brown haired boy, to take care of so they try to make sure that Fritz looks after them. Its not surprising, given how much of an attachment he has to Roderich and Elizaveta" Arthur was smiling, so Alfred smiled in turn.

"What about the other children? Tell me about them"

"Well, there's Yao's brothers and Mei. He's the oldest and after him is Kiku, who turned three thousand and four last week. Like Roma's boys there all from different parts of Asia. Yao's Chinese and Kiku is Japanese. The third oldest is Leon, whose from Hong Kong and good friends with the youngest of the vampires, Emil. He also knows so pretty badass kung-fu. After him is the second youngest, Mei, who I think just turned nine. Then there's Yong So who just turned six. The only child left is my nephew…" He trailed off and Alfred turned to him only to see one of the saddest expressions he had ever seen. His heard jammed into his throat at the sight. "His name is Peter… and he is my late brother's child" Alfred looked at him confused. He had spoken to the boy Peter, he had barely been pushing twelve. And Arthur was the last of the dragons, how could he have a brother with a son? ,You see, I have only been the last of the dragons for a short while"

Author's notes:

ah, yet another chapter finished and done with. Tis is my favourite story and thank you all for the reviews and follows and favourites. It really motivates me to write more. Expect that this story will go on for a little longer. I am far too attached to abandon.

With love,

Clementine


	9. The Kirkland brothers vs Alfred and Mei

Alfred didn't ask anymore about the children or Arthur's lost brother. He didn't think it was necessary. He would ask Roma about it later. He didn't want to put Arthur through anything else.

They sat together on the roof until the sun rose, but soon Alfred decided that he couldn't bare to see Arthur so sad anymore. He demanded that Arthur to put them back on the ground. Arthur did so and was then promptly dragged down to breakfast which all by itself was quite a strange experience. Each and every member of the household was seated at a long table, even the children. Everyone was yelling and eating and yelling some more. Alfred had been seated next to the Japanese boy named Kiku and the second tallest vampire, who spoke in a thick Dutch accent and seemed to believe he had once been a Viking. Given the ages of all the people around the table that didn't seem like a very far off prospect. Alfred had liked them both, but Arthur hadn't nearly been as lucky. He was seated next to Ivan and Yao who were the closest in age to himself. Ivan, who was creepy was leaning over to Arthur who was steadily leaning back. Yao wasn't that bad and might of been able to save him, but he was unfortunately attending to the youngest of his brothers. Alfred watched as Ivan leaned closer to the smaller man, with his long horns bobbing. He also saw how Arthur kept his face expressionless and Ivan wasn't being pushed away even though Arthur could of done so. A dangerous black feeling swirled in A

Alfred's stomach and he had to resist throwing his fork into the demon's eye. Instead he looked away until breakfast was over, opting to talk to Kiku about movies and manga instead.

After breakfast came to an end all the people that had been officially ordered to the house on official business were asked into the meeting room, so basically all the adults except Alfred, Kiku and surprisingly Roderich. Apparently it was his wife who ran most of the everything. Unfortunately this left them abandoned with 10 squabbling kids. Three of which were currently planning something sinister. Almost immediately Roderich disappeared into the music room leaving Alfred alone with the children.

Thankfully ten minutes later Arthur was kicked out of the meeting and told him that if he let them run amuck they would only have to clean it up themselves later. As for the reason Arthur was kicked out if the meeting room, it was because he had been seated next to the window and had fallen asleep. Apparently Roma had argued for him the it was Arthur's reptilian instinct to fall asleep in the sun, but Arthur had still been removed.

Now Arthur was back to his dragon slumber safely tucked under Alfred's arm on one of the many sofas in one of the many drawing rooms. In one arm Alfred had Arthur and in the other he had his phone. He was too loyal to leave the ancient man in fear of disturbing him, but holding a person when you're not planing to fall asleep was quite boring. He had opted to play stupid games on his phone ,listen some music and occasionally stare at the Arthur to amuse himself.

"Uncle Arthur!" All of the children called Arthur 'uncle Arthur', well all of them except Ravis who called him 'Mr Kirkland'. Alfred tensed as Mei came bustling in with a huge book in her hands. It was one of those huge kid's pop up books. This one happened to be one on pirates. Alfred quickly placed his finger to his lips. The young girl looked at him in surprised for a second before seeing Arthur sleeping and copied the gesture with a happy smile. Alfred beckoned her forward, curious about what she was so excited about. Mei tiptoed towards the two men.

"What did you find?" Alfred whispered to her. The little girl came and stood beside the sofa, showing the open page of the book. Given that it was a book of english pirates and Arthur had been around in the pirate era it shouldn't of been surprising that there was a whole double spread dedicated to his name. Alfred eyes widened as he looked at the name up the top of the page.

Captain Arthur Kirkland

"Jesus" Alfred muttered to himself as he read the articles on 'Captain Kirkland's' amazing adventures. It went on mostly about how feared he was and how he had never been caught and so on. There was even an artist impression. Alfred chuckled to himself, so Arthur had been a pirate. Perhaps this man was a little more outgoing than he had first thought.

Briefly one of the article mentioned that Arthur was part of the 'infamous Kirkland family'. Alfred frowned. He should investigate this family of his. Maybe he could help Arthur and be his hero. He liked that idea, he liked the idea that Arthur could rely on him. He turned to the little giggling Asian girl.

"Would you like to help me do a little investigation?" He raised an eyebrow and the girl grinned nodding. Alfred had a thought that him and this girl were going to get on great. He quickly replaced himself with a few pillows so that Arthur wouldn't wake up. He couldn't help, but take a photo on his phone. The smaller man looked so cute when he was sleeping. Bathed in light like that, he looked like an angel rather than a fire breathing dragon. He laughed to himself and took the small girl's hand. As they exited the room she tugged on his arm and he looked down at her.

"Why did ya take a picture of him, mister?" Her lips held a coy smile and Alfred cringed. He couldn't lie to a kid and the kid knew that.

"Because I think he's beautiful" Alfred tried to smile, but it came out a strange wriggling nervous line.

"Yeah, but why the picture?" Damn, this girl was insistent.

"Well…" Alfred struggled to find to words as they walked to Kiku's room. "In case I ever go away I want to know he's still with me… I guess" the little girl grinned at him and seemed to decide not to push the subject. They walked together until they reached Kiku's room. At breakfast Kiku had spoken of doing things on a computer so hopefully he would be able to help along with magic of the Internet. Speaking of the Asian family Alfred still didn't know what they were. He had to remember to ask the boy. Perhaps it was a little unfair to call him a boy. He was over 3000 years old. Mei knock on her brother's door.

"Herro?" Came that accented reply. Alfred placed his hand on the door knob and opened the door. Kiku turned around in his office chair, bright eyes shining as usual. Needless to say Kiku's room was high tech and the ancient being was obviously immersed in the modern era. His desk was covered with screens and expensive looking head phones dangled from his neck. His blank expression looked curious. "How can I help you?" The boy asked politely.

"Dude, we gotta borrow a laptop. We're doing a background check on Arthur" Kiku nodded and brought out a sleek state of the art laptop. He offered it the Alfred who grinned widely. "Thank dude, you mind if we crash here till we're done?"

"Not at all"

"Thanks" Alfred and Mei seated themselves on the second bed in the room. If he remembered correctly Kiku shared the room with his older brother.

Alfred brought up a search engine and eagerly typed in "Kirkland family", with Mei clutching his arm, curiosity burning in her dark eyes.

It took almost an hour, but finally they had mapped out the Kirkland family. It wasn't really a family, just these six brothers hanging out in history. They all seemed to peak around the same time that Arthur was out on the high seas. The eldest three consisted of a tall red headed man named Allistor, a slightly smaller man with straight-ish orange hair and a bright smile who called himself Bret, and lastly the shortest of the three was an incredibly cheery man with light brown hair named Hayden. They got incredibly famous and incredibly rich when they made a advertising company's hat skyrocketed within the year of being opened. All the Kirkland brothers were brilliant as it seemed. If Arthur inherited everything after they died he must of been loaded.

That was a sad thought.

After the three eldest brothers came Arthur who seemed to of been very famous even before he started to rob the seas for all they were worth. He was an inventor in London and sought out all over the world for his tricky fingers. He specialised in mechanics and chemistry and was dubbed at the time smartest man in the world. Alfred had smiled at that. Then of course he became an international criminal and "supposedly" died on the seas. After Arthur came two younger brothers. The second youngest was a man named Jett who went off to Australia and subsequently got rich off painting pictures for high class Europeans that wanted something different for their high class walls. The youngest of the brothers was named Calum and he made his fortune by writing novels from his home in New Zealand. The brothers made other appearances through out history, but that was their real peak. There were textbooks dedicated to the name Kirkland. The three eldest had fourteen universities alone. Jett had two galleries and his paintings were still being brought and sold for six digit numbers. As for Arthur he had a whole fleet sharing his name. Captain Kirkland's fleet. All the brothers together had over a hundred establishments to their name.

And yet Arthur was the only one left.

Mei had fallen asleep, but Kiku as still feverishly tapping away on his screens.

"Hey, Kiku?" The dark haired boy turned a little and paused in whatever he was doing.

"Yes Alfred?"

"Who has known Arthur the longest?" He figured it was probably Roma or maybe Yao because he was the second oldest. The boy leaned back in his seat, thinking.

"Well, it would probably be the older Fran-" he was cut off by a hoarse scream that sounded distinctly British.

"Get off me, you bloody frog!" So Arthur was up. The Japanese boy frowned and Mei was forced from her restful sleep.

"So he finally got here" Kiku muttered. Mei leapt off the bed immediately and Alfred followed suit. Mei was eager about something she knew about, Alfred on the other hand was simply curious. Kiku's room was on the second floor and a large stair case lead to the parlour of the castle. Mei was exactly 1 quarter of the way down said stairs when she tripped and went sailing through the air. She was godly lucky that Arthur happened to be going up the same set of stairs, leaving a long haired, blue eyed Frenchman at the bottom. Unfortunately for Arthur when the screaming eight year old girl toppled into him he happened to lose his balance and they both fell backwards. Alfred yelled out as he saw his friend fall, his hand reaching out as if he could possible help. The lighter blond rushed forward from the base of the stair case, his arms open wide. Arthur let one high pitched squeal part from his lips, before he felt his back smash against the Frenchman's chest.

"Damn frog"


	10. Yeah… so… please help

Alright, so unfortunately this is not a new chapter as much as I would like to convince myself it is. This is actually a plea for help. In truth I have no freaking idea what to do with this. I know how it's gonna end and just so you know it's gonna end up in a battle, but I need something to come up to that. For the love of anime and all that is good, please help me. Anything, really. Do we want Francis and Arthur to of been in each others pants previously or just want Alfred to suspect that? Do we want something to happen to Alfred so that Arthur will have to be all cute and caring? Maybe I could make him have a cold or something, that's always a fluffy scenario.

Much love, and thanks for the help,

Clementine


	11. The sad nature of averted eyes

Given the fact that the long haired Frenchman looked exactly like the little ten year old Francis beyond the bounds of suspicion and coincidence, it took quite a while for it to be explained that the long haired Frenchman was in fact known as "the older Francis". Neither him nor Arthur explained the complicated situation to Alfred, they were far to busy squabbling. At least Arthur was squabbling, Francis simply laughed. Alfred couldn't count the times Arthur had threatened to turn "the frog" into a frog. So many times in fact that Alfred had forced himself to ask Roderich why he didn't. Roderich had then impatiently explained that the older Francis was a Cupid and one night a few centuries before Francis had managed to get hilariously Arthur drunk. So drunk that he had some how managed to get Arthur to sign a treaty between them saying that he could never use magic on a Cupid leaving him almost human to the Frenchman. Alfred had almost laughed at this, but then it had occurred to him that Francis had gone drinking with Arthur and he hadn't and then he got insanely jealous.

He had spent the rest of the afternoon with both of them and Kiku. For a little while he had tried to referee the fighting, but soon Kiku had told him not to bother. At some point the older Francis had come and sat next to Alfred while Arthur had fumed like a child in the corner with the two Italian boys on his shoulders. He had introduced himself as Francis Bonnefoy and the jealous, grumpy American had forced himself to look over the Frenchman. As uncomfortable as it made Alfred he had to admit the man was beautiful. Long silky blond hair, blue eyes that he thought put his own to shame and his features, his features were that of a god. Everything about the man was sculpted and beautiful, and yet he couldn't even vaguely appreciate it, because unlike Arthur this man's beauty was for sale. He saw this beauty in every magazine. He could see that it was a beauty for show, but he was unsure that Arthur could see that. He was well aware that the other blond was blind to quite a few many things.

In the time if an afternoon he had learnt quite a bit about the man. He had known Arthur since he was very young. Apparently he had practically raised him, but mysteriously wasn't as old. He had been born an adult while Arthur had still been a child. He even had a sketch if the younger Arthur in his wallet. Needless to say he ha been the cutest kid in the whole history of children. Alfred had practically drooled. He had pounced on to Arthur immediately so that he could tell him how cute he had been. Arthur had not appreciated this and had accidentally set fire to a curtain, which lead to being lectured by Elizaveta about the hazards of fire safety and just how many children there were in the house and just how precious they were.

He also learnt that Arthur hated the blue eyed Frenchman like nothing else, but… even so there was a tenderness in that hatred. A hatred like a running joke. Unreal, but ever present.

It hurt him. It hurt him like a spear to the chest. He knew he must of been a blink of an eye to the smaller man. He knew that compared to the whole of Arthur's life span he was simply an insignificant dot. How had he thought the he even had a chance with a dragon? How had he thought that Arthur might want him when he could have someone like Francis? How could he have been so stupid?

...

Weeks pasted and Alfred slowly grew more and more miserable. Arthur noticed and had tried to confront him on many occasions, but the younger man would always just brush it off. The more miserable Alfred grew the more worried Arthur became. He let it slide for the most part, but he still kept one eye open. Every night at around the same time, Alfred would drag himself up to Arthur's perch. It was what he lived for. Being the only thing in Arthur's attention, not having to worry about Francis and Ivan and their scandalous attempts. Not having to think about his jealousy and his anxiety, just being in Arthur's warm winged embrace.

Person by person people and creatures left, the children often changing hands. They left on assignments ranging for combat to research. Yet, Arthur never budged. He just wandered around the castle, occasionally going out and musing about his home. After a while Alfred inquired about the lack of movement and he had said that he was really just for show. Like having an atomic bomb you never intend to use, but still threaten to.

Eventually the only people left in the castle were Elizaveta, two of the vampires, Ivan's older sister, Arthur, Alfred, Yao and most of the children. The rest had been sent out all over Europe. To Iceland, to Germany, to Switzerland, to Spain. Every morning they would gather and chat. It was more like they were house mates rather than a military operation run by a crazy lady wielding a frypan. It seemed that Yao was much the same as Arthur, another atomic bomb. His whole family were the highest ranking Archangels the world had to offer. Yao's power still didn't come anywhere near Arthur's, but they seemed to be quite good friends. Alfred also quite liked the two vampires that stayed back. There was the oldest in appearance, the tall stoic one with the glasses and the scary face and the second smallest one, who was bouncy and happy and kept falling over things. The older one was named Berwald and the smaller one Tino. They were a riot in Alfred's opinion. Ivan's sister was by far the least scary in her family. She was happy and calming and had mothering instincts like a bird. She often helped Arthur when he looked after the children, which was always.

...

A child crawled over Arthur's stomach, another was playing with his hair. Three were sitting on his legs and two others were sleeping peacefully under his arms. He was convinced the children only saw him as a large play toy that occasionally dispensed food and played with them. Surprisingly it didn't bother him that much. He was quite happy playing with the children.

"Arthur!" His eyes jolted open with a start as did many of the children's. Feli crawled out from under one of his arms and Ravis sat up a little after being nestled into the man's chest. Peter's hand pause in his hair. He moved his head in the boy's lap so he could see the door to the drawing room. HRE crouched over his hip and glared at the door. Each of the children watched the slab of wood as they heard pounding footsteps banging down the corridor, each of them with an irritated expression. To them Arthur's nap time was scared and not to be disturbed.

The door swung open and all eyes settled on the figure in the doorway. Alfred's cheeks were rosy and his breathing rapid and something in his stature was dazed, swaying even. One look at Alfred and Arthur's green eyes narrowed. Something was wrong and he could tell. He slowly stood, the children toppling off him like sand, all quietly moving out of the way for him.

"Alfie" Arthur's voice was low and warning. He didn't like the idea that Alfred was swaying, it made him nervous. Alfred didn't respond to the sound of Arthur's name for him. Though he did manage to focus on Arthur, blue eyes glued to emerald. Arthur held his palm up to the taller man's forehead and felt the fever in his system. Sighing, he drew back. Almost as soon as his hand left the man's forehead Alfred stubbled forward and promptly collapsed. In a panic Arthur stepped forward and tried in vain to keep him up. The two of them sank to the floor, Alfred's nose buried in the smaller man's chest. Arthur held him tightly, suppressing panic. He could feel his breath on his skin, he probably just had a cold and a bad constitution. At least that's what Arthur decided to tell himself. There were several coos from the children in concern and confusion. The dragon rolled his head back.

"Children, can you please go play with Aunty Kat? I have to take care of Alfred" there were a few out of tune 'yes, Uncle Arthur's and a single 'yes, Mr Kirkland' from Ravis. "Peter, please go find Yao and tell him to met me at Alfred's room" all the children ran out of the rooms and down the hall, leaving the two men still crumpled on the floor. Arthur sighed deeply. "What an idiot, collapsing like this" he said to himself. He had acted like he had even the faintest idea what he was doing in front of the children, but truth be told, nothing even briefly came to him. He didn't even know how to get up. Quietly he buried his nose into Alfred's soft hair to comfort himself, figuring if he was passed out it wouldn't matter.

Then Alfred began to chuckle. Arthur's nose shot out of the soft threads of Alfred's hair and his cheeks grew a sharp shade of scarlet.

"You brat, you tricked me" Arthur could keep the growl from his voice and he didn't care to.

But how had he been tricked?

You can't fake a fever like the one Alfred still laid claim to. Arthur could feel heat radiating off the American, and not in the usual way. Without his content Arthur was suddenly thrown over Alfred's shoulder, shaky hands gripping him. He squealed with fright. _Oh, not this again,_ he thought as he began to beat his fists against the larger man's back.

"Put me down this instant, you brute!" He yelled, unafraid of someone hearing him. Actually he would of been grateful if they did, but he knew that no one was in this part of the house. Unfortunately for him Alfred bedroom was right next to the drawing room and that seemed to be the feverish man's destination. A thought crossed Arthur's mind and he started to bash his fists even harder. "Don't you dare! You put me down right now or so help me I will tie you to a chair in the basement and burn you to a crisp!" Arthur's voice was a threatening hiss, but Alfred only laughed. The dragon felt Alfred bend down slightly and he was throw onto a bed with a zombie climbing on top of him. Emerald once again met sapphire and Arthur's heart beat rapidly in his chest as he saw the intense lust in his friend's eyes. His cheeks burning and his abilities to think fading, Alfred lowered his head, his lips so close to the man he loved. He wanted to kiss, he wanted to kiss until his jaw hurt and the world spun, but something in his love's eyes told him that if he kissed, he would be the only one. His eyes weren't filled with the love Alfred felt, they only imprisoned wariness and fear and possibly some embarrassment. He felt warm breath on his face and a pounding headache. Everything else seemed to disappear with Arthur's smell, spiced tea and books. He pulled back a little so he could look at the person he so adored.

"Listen" his voice was barely even a whisper. "I know… I know I'm not who you want. I-I know I'll never be that person" he nuzzled against the side of Arthur's soft, soft hair knowing the smaller was listening. "I know I'm not Francis… but… please, let me kiss you" he felt the smaller man tense beneath him and then a characteristic scoff. Something fell onto his head, and he passed out, collapsing into the most lovely smell he had ever had the pleasure to smell. He just heard someone saying "thank you, Yao" before the world disappeared into a mysterious darkness.

Author's notes:

And thus we have another chapter. Thank's everyone who helped with reviews.

Special thanks to **furrfurr2001** and **I've-Got-All-The-Homo**,seriously great ideas, helped me so much. Expect that the next chapter will have some serious fluff and I'm considering a stolen kiss, blame it on these two, seriously thank you so, so much.

With much love,

Clementine

Ps: I'm starting an new story with Romania and Bulgaria called "the laws of green are written in red" and its going to fantasy and romance, so if you see it around, please check it out.


	12. The oldest men have the greatest allies

"Love? You have to wake up now, poppet" he heard the soft cooing from somewhere past the cold and the banging pain. He almost found himself incapable of moving, like his limbs had simply given up on him. His nose was blocked and his throat was sore and felt deathly red. Everything ached like his was swimming in a fog of acid.

"Don't want to" he mumbled. He heard a little chuckle and forced his eyes open. He wondered how such a simple gesture could be so difficult. The two figures beside the bed swayed and almost came into focus. Arthur and… Yao. He couldn't remember much. Searching for Arthur in a daft haze and then… almost kissing him. He put that last part down to delusion.

"How are you feeling, poppet?" Normally Arthur only called the children 'poppet'. _I really must be sick_, he thought as he felt his chest rise and fall, his breath stinging the raw flesh of his throat.

Alfred returned his eyes to the celling of what he recognised as his room. It was too tiring to keep his eyes trained on the two old men.

"Crappy" he breathed, his voice almost breaking with the words. He sounded old and fragile.

"You have the equivalent of a cold, aru. Suck it up" Yao had his arms crossed over his sleeveless shirt. To anyone else he was a young man, slight in build, strong in muscle. No one would of guessed he was as old as china.

"How did I get here?" He could see Arthur and Yao looming over him. Arthur was holding his elbows, looking concerned. Arthur was only ever gentle when he was concerned or playing with the children. Alfred was sure that he would be back to calling him a git soon enough.

"Yao knocked you out with a lamp" Arthur seemed somewhat indifferent to how he got there. Sour even.

"So that's why my head hurts so much" he muttered, almost to himself. At least there was a reason for his headache. He closed his eyes, ready to slip back into sleep.

"No, your head hurts because you ate a buffet poison" Alfred's eyes sprung open. "You ate Arthur's breakfast this morning because he wasn't hungry, yes?" Alfred nodded slowly, his eyes fearful. "It had dioganus in it. A tasteless poison, fatal to dragons" then in his dazed state it stuck him. Someone had tried to kill Arthur. Technically he should of seen it coming, he had been employed to kill Arthur before after all. It made sense that they would try again.

"So if I had kissed you?" Arthur looked down at him with a grave expression.

"I would of died within the hour" Arthur finished for him. He looked deadly serious.

A little while later Alfred fell into a feverish sleep, still reeling and struggling to recall things.

When he awoke again Arthur was by his side, sitting up and quietly reading a faded book with a cup of tea. Every few minutes he would slip his smaller hand out of Alfred's larger one and turn the page, but then he would slip it back and Alfred would feel safe again. Alfred watched in silence, his only movement a slow blink. He was on his side, facing the rest of the bed and Arthur. He didn't feel any less crappy than he had the last time he woke up, if anything he felt worse. A now dry cloth was slipping from his forehead ever so slowly.

He was struggling to remain awake, but nothing would of made him turn away from Arthur. He looked so carefree and calm. Sipping his tea and reading his book. He hummed under his breath, briefly giving a slither of evidence to his beautiful voice. The voice that fuelled his ferocious roar.

"Nothing has ever happened between me and Francis, you know? I never even fancied him" Arthur didn't look away from his book, but he wasn't really reading either. He had somehow known that the American had awoken without even looking at him.

Alfred eyes widened. As far as he knew Arthur wasn't physic. At least he hoped to god he wasn't. He didn't think that someone so dense could possible be a mind reader.

"What?" He croaked, his hand still nestled softly in Arthur's. Green eyes looked down at him with a serious expression. He was so breathtaking.

"Me and Francis, it would be like shagging one of my brothers. It would just be creepy" he said it so calmly that Alfred's eyes returned to there normal shape. He was embarrassed that Arthur knew how ferociously jealous he was, but a weight rose from his chest and he closed his eyes. He squeezed Arthur's hand in thanks.

"That's good" he murmured dazedly. And then Arthur began to sing and all was right with the world.

It started off with just a hum of rhythm, a well known melody unconsciously sprouting from his lips. The melody slowly transformed in to words, first murmured, then sung.

_I heard there was a secret chord,_

_That David played and it pleased The Lord,_

_But you don't really care for music do you._

_Well, it goes like this, the fourth, the fifth._

_The minor fall, the major lift._

_The baffled king composing hallelujah._

At some point Arthur's hand had moved to his head. Tapping the constant, beautiful melody into his hair.

_Your faith was strong but you needed proof_

_You saw her bathing on the roof_

_Her beauty in the moonlight overthrew you_

_She tied you to a kitchen chair_

_She broke your throne, and she cut your hair_

_And from your lips she drew the Hallelujah_

From somewhere off in the distance Roderich began to play. His piano accompanying Arthur's soft, gentle voice.

_Maybe there's a god above_

_But all I've ever learned from love _

_Was how to shoot someone who outdrew you_

_It's not a cry that you hear at night_

_It's not somebody who has seen the light_

_It's a cold and it's a broken hallelujah _

The world slowly faded left and right, Alfred's sweating palm gripping Arthur's shirt, the sweet song and Arthur's sad, raspy voice weaving through his mind and chasing the fever. It made him wonder if Arthur had cast a spell on him. He didn't think he would of minded that.

"What are we going to do? This has just gone to shit" By now the children were unfazed by Arthur constant cursing and they all continued with what they were doing, knowing that he wasn't talking to them. Yao leant back on the doorframe, looking up at the celling, deep in thought.

"I think it's obvious, we're going to have to fight, Huǒ rén" Yao only ever called Arthur 'Huǒ rén' when he was deadly serious. If Arthur remembered it meant 'fire man' in his language. It worried him whenever the name was used. Yao was the only one who used it and it always meant that something bad was going on. It was like saying 'we will remain allied' to someone during a war. It was important.

"Qui ceciderunt." Fallen one.

Here they were, the two most powerful men in the world. With the power to bring the world crumbling down at their fingertips. One the last of the dragons, the other god's right hand.

"What I want to know is what we're fighting" Yao cast him a look as Arthur sipped whiskey from a hip flask. He leant back on the far wall, looking at the archangel he called his friend. The children paid them no mind as they played.

"What do you think, aru? Demons of course" Arthur made a small sound of discomfort at the discovery.

"Why is always demons? When it comes to threats to my life I'm in need of a little variety" Yao nodded agreeingly.

"Yes, they never give up. At least we have Ivan, so we'll have an interpreter" Yao shrugged and picked up the smallest of his siblings. He nuzzled his neck lovingly and the ancient man smiled slightly. He boy wasn't usually that perfect and Arthur was content to let them have their moment. With a deep sighed he lay down on the couch, one arm on his stomach, the other behind his head, his legs sprawled out in front of him. He always slept a lot while he was human. Roma liked to think that it was because of his age, but he knew that it was because his body couldn't keep up with his power and was always tiring itself out.

At some point the children decided that the nap time from yesterday was resumed and that meant stacks on uncle Arthur. They wriggled and squirmed until they were comfortable, more than one of them sucking their thumbs, eyes closed, their breathing calm.

The late afternoon sun was shining brightly through the window and Alfred was forced awake. He was up in an instant, eyes scanning for Arthur's slight form. The room was empty as he saw and he rushed out, panicking. He finally understood what it meant, someone wanted Arthur dead. He knew that while Arthur was human, he was defenceless. He was… fragile.

He burst into the drawing room and Peter glared at him like he was disturbing the peace. Well, perhaps he was. Several other glares joined his. Eyes ranging from the elfish boy Gilbert to the fearsome orbs that belonged to the fearsome Lovino. All the children that weren't sleeping raised their heads and glared.

He almost backed out of the room then and there, but amongst the children lay a man. A man who was so deathly beautiful he seemed to be of a dream. A man who so captivated him he was almost sent into a state if delusion. A man so lovely that he felt tears sprouting in his eyes.

Alfred slowly approached the sofa, where Arthur lay sprawled, toddlers covering him like moss grown over a statue. Little Feli was nestled under his arm, Lovi curled by his hip, gripping his brothers hand. Ravis and Peter sat together, there backs against the sofa, a large book open in their laps. Francis, Gilbert and Antonio were sitting in a large armchair together. In their eyes was a threat for a whole new target for their pranks. To Asian children were snuggled together, by Arthur's legs. Yong so asleep in his older sister's arms, Mei glaring like Alfred was the worst person in the world.

"I'm sorry for the intrusion" he slowly returned to the corridor where their glares wouldn't reach him. Well, at least he knew that Arthur would be safe for the next few hours. The children would protect him. He sighed and scratched the back of his neck sheepishly. He felt a little embarrassed that he had freaked out like that.

He walked towards the kitchen, hoping to discover a nice tall glass of lemonade there. He didn't. Instead he found the oldest of Ivan's servants. A water nymph named Toris. He was nice enough, tall, brown haired and shy. Alfred had had a few conversations with him and his blond boyfriend. As far as he knew Feliks was a farie so it was no wonder they went so well together.

"Hey, Tor? What do you think will happen now, as in after the Arthur poison thing?" Toris leaned back on the bench, thinking. He sipped his coffee as he thought about how to answer Alfred's question. Alfred noticed the thin slips of gills on the man's neck and thought also. Mostly about where his dick would disappear too when he turned into a merman to swim. He was a particularly thoughtful person.

"Well, it'll take a while, but I could explain it to you, if you like?" Toris smiled, he was forever shy, but he still happened to know quite a bit about what Arthur would be forced to do. Alfred nodded eagerly, he had time.

Toris then led him down a few corridors to where he knew that the library stood, yet the water nymph never paused or paid any mind to the books. Instead he continued on to the cellar that Alfred hadn't previously known existed. The cellar was filled with paintings. Paintings from far, far before he was born. Probably back when Arthur was a pirate.

For a few minutes Toris rummaged through the musty paintings that were stacked against the walls. It was obvious that he was looking for something specific and Alfred was tempted to help him, but then he was quite content to just sit on the steps and wait. Toris chuckled to himself after a few minutes and brought a few paintings over to him.

"These aren't the ones I wanted to show you. I should of known that they would of destroyed them, but these are funny and I'll tell you about them later" Toris sat down next to Alfred, letting the paintings rest against his knee. Alfred looked to him, his cheek resting on his fist, ready for a story. "Arthur and Yao are the two most powerful men in the whole world and they have fought many battles. More battles than a lion has hairs. I've fought in a few of them, but if Arthur was fighting then Yao was too. Even though Yao isn't as old as Arthur is, he was born around the time that the big battles began. Everyone you know is alive because of them. They are the only reason that the world hasn't yet been destroyed" Toris paused briefly, and looked at his feet gathering his thoughts. "But they hate it" he breathed quietly. "They hate it so much that they destroyed all the paintings of them fighting. So now they have to fight again. If Arthur doesn't fight then he'll be killed, and Yao will fight because he wouldn't let Arthur fight alone"

"So, they're going to become… active?"

"So to speak yes. Our opponents will be gathered and a battle with happen. The opponent party wants a fight and the only way a dragon fights is head on, they'll honour that" Alfred looked down at his bare feet sadly and drew his knees up to his chest. It was sad.

"Ah, don't get so down, mon cheri!" Alfred jumped to see Francis crouching on the steps behind them, with a happy smile. He must of only just gotten back from his assignment. Alfred expected to feel that pang of jealousy in his heart, but nothing ever came. Realising this he smiled widely at the man, his previous sadness only lingering moodily in the back of his mind. Francis turned to Toris who was looking at him, alarmed. "Do you have the one of Arthur and me, from the beginning of the 16th century?" Toris looked confused for a second, before smiled and sifting through the pictures to his left.

For the next few hours they looked through the paintings of Arthur. There was the pirate one, that Francis had painted while he was staying on holiday on Arthur's ship, while he traveled to Spain. There was the portrait of Yao, Arthur and Francis in China. Alfred was surprised to see horns protruding from Arthur's forehead and great feathered wings coming out from behind Yao, which started the conversation about how the Asian man was an archangel. The last painting seemed to be a family portrait. One of all the brothers, including a few close family friends. Each painting was beautiful and perfect and Francis had stories about all of them.

It was a lovely afternoon compared to the hell they were about to endure.

Author's notes:

Arg, just so everyone knows this story will have a happy ending, I wouldn't be able to survive if it didn't. Anyway, here we have another chapter and I'm quite happy with it. I really wanted to get Toris in their somewhere, he's one of my favourite characters ever.

Much love,

Clementine

P.s: for the record, I don't own the song Hallelujah

P.P.s: if there are any attack on Titan fans reading this, I have a story that levixeren and I think it's pretty good. It's called The Leviathan and the Reasons to War, please check it out.


	13. Relief still on his face

"I can't see through one of my eyes, you know?" Arthur had just suddenly looked up from his book a blank expression on his face. Alfred looked at him, honestly surprised. Had Arthur's simply being thinking about it?

They sat together on the sofa, legs intertwined under a blanket. It had all been planned. An arena. The rules of the game. The opponents. The battle would occur the next day, and while Arthur would be playing quite a big part in the actual battle he wasn't doing much for the preparations, not that he didn't want to. He had been forced into submission. Apparently the day before the battle was entirely reserved for Yao's to training and Arthur dozing.

It made Alfred sad, the whole affair. He had seen the sadness in Arthur's eyes when he had awoken from his slumber, he had seen how he had stuck to the sides of Alfred and Yao almost growling with stress. It was so blatantly obvious that he hated the idea of a fight that almost everyone had decided to was best to just leave him be until it was all done with. Even the children could sense it, with every passing moment Arthur grew more unsettled and with every passing moment another child was held back by their guardian so that they would leave him alone. They played with Kat and Lili in the play room. All of them anxious and not knowing why. The only children that weren't socialising with the other children were Ravis and Peter who had taken their leave to the garden, where they did something secretive and probably childish.

Alfred had somehow been rudely forced into babysitting the millennium old being, but he had a thought that he probably would of done it anyway. Now the sun was shining right on Arthur's face and he suddenly seemed a lot less bothered. Like he had finally just figured that one last fight would do him no harm. Of course, everyone already expected them to win, sure a few casualties might come to pass, but they would surely win. When you have both a dragon and God's right hand on your team there isn't any way you won't. Still people trained all around the castle. Above them, below them, around them. Power radiated off the walls and leaked into their skin, to the point that it was almost overwhelming.

Kiku was doing some sort of… Ti-chi…thing in the next room over with the third oldest brother, while the youngest vampire watched, knowing he wasn't built for the battle ground. Yao was in the basement, blowing things up with mere glances, while Roma ripped dummies to shreds with his teeth, Old man Fritz beside him, bow in hand, charms upon his tongue. Ivan and his younger sister had been forced into sedation by their older sister and were currently both radiating a proverbial red smoke from their bedroom. Apparently when Ivan had heard that their enemy was a score of demons he had gotten so angry that Yao had hit him over the head with Elizaveta's fry pan to keep him from hurting anyone. That had, of course, made Natalia very angry so Yao had hit her on the head as well. When Kat had discovered both her siblings sleeping peacefully on the floor and Yao with a startled expression and A frypan in his hand she had calmly decided that it would probably be best if they stayed in their little naptime a little longer, just long enough for them to calm down.

All over the castle, people prepared for the battle they had all seen coming.

Still it made Alfred sick to the stomach that these kind people who had embraced him without a second thought would be forced to kill.

"Really?" He asked, not quite believing what he was hearing. Arthur's eyes looked fine to him.

"Yeah, I wear a contact, see?" With that Arthur raised his fingers to his right eye and removed said contact, thus revealing his blind dragon eye. Alfred mouth opened in silent awe. He had figured that Arthur's eye would have been clouded over, or something of that sort, but he had been wrong. His eye didn't even look human. His pupil had gone from a circle in his left eye to a jagged line down the centre of his iris. While his left eye was a beautiful shade of dark emerald green his left eye had cracked, jagged streaks of gold and red on a green background. It was eery and haunting and glorious, even though it couldn't be seen though.

"What happened to it?" He couldn't help his curiosity, he had thoughts of fierce battles and tremendous victories rolling through him mind at an alarming speed. Arthur laughed at his expression as Alfred leaned forward to closer inspect Arthur's eye. He carefully moved the dragon's head to the side, quick fingers resting on his chin and cheek.

"I was doing an experiment around the eighteenth century and it blew up, a large shard of glass went straight into my eye, forcing it to be removed. My instincts kicked in and I quickly replaced it with my dragon eye, from my other body. Unfortunately I did a pretty sloppy job so I can't see through it" While Alfred was a teeny tiny, but disappointed he still didn't quite buy it.

"I suppose that's why you wore an eye patch before, huh?" Arthur smiled.

"Yeah, they would have thought I was a witch or something and tried to kill me. There would go my ship" Alfred chuckled and covered Arthur's left eye, supposedly making him blind. Just to be sure Alfred took a deep breath and held his face right next to Arthur's. If Arthur could of seen he would of recoiled, but he didn't, thus proving that he right eye really was blind. Alfred smiled, liking being so close to his love, despite the fact that Arthur didn't know. He quickly gave the man a kiss on the nose and pulled back removing his hands from Arthur's face. Arthur touched his nose as if assuring himself that he still had one and looked at Alfred in surprise.

"What was that for?" He asked, eye brows at the top of his head. Alfred smiled again, enjoying the slight blush on Arthur's cheeks.

"Because I think you're cute, blind or otherwise" Arthur's light blush roared to flame, his ears tingling with embarrassment. He stood quickly and Alfred fretted that he had said something wrong. Hen didn't think his comment was untruthful. He did think Arthur was cute. He thought Arthur was adorable, beautiful and kind and everything he cared about wrapped into a man. He smiled at Arthur hoping to calm him from his flustered state.

"Artie" cooed softly. He stood also and instinctively wrapped his arms around Arthur's waist, knitting his fingers together over his stomach, pulling the smaller man towards him. He buried his face into the crook if Arthur's neck, a familiar feeling rising in his chest.

"I'm sorry" he murmured. "I didn't mean to make you flustered" he nose breathed in, smelling Arthur soft smell. Spiced tea and his latest novel. Such a lovely smell. He knew that Arthur's neck was right there. He knew that he could just go and kiss it, he knew he could feel that soft skin under his lips. But he wouldn't. He knew that Arthur wasn't ready. He could only make him so uncomfortable before he got pushed away.

"I think you're cute too, Alfie" Arthur's voice was small, barely noticeable, but Alfred heard. He froze and Arthur took advantage of that. He wriggled free of Alfred hold and marched towards the door, leaving his American at a loss for words. "I'm going for a walk" he said pointedly, before slamming to door.

Alfred collapsed back into the sofa, burying his face into Arthur's pillow, seeking the smell of his beloved.

"Why are you so confusing?" He demanded. "Why are you so stubborn? What do you think of me? Do you even sway that way? Why must you tease me so…" his questions were never ending.

...

Arthur stormed down the corridor, fuming. Why had he said that? Why had he admitted that? Why? Oh, god, just why? He threw open the backdoor of the castle open and out into the fresh air he never failed to crave, filled with conflicting emotions. Did he love Alfred? Did Alfred care? What the hell was going on in his heads? He was far to old to be fretting upon such things. He could practically hear his brothers laughing at him.

"Yeah, yeah. Ya taunt me from up there, ya bastards" he muttered to the sky.

One of the few things he liked about Roderich and his castle was that he kept a large garden. Filled with plants from all over Europe. Everything always smelt lovely and the grass was always fresh and the birds were always singing…

Arthur paused where he walked, raising his head to the trees. No bird calls met his ears, only silence and the occasional rustling. The birds had gone. Arthur knew that occasionally Vash would go hunting for pheasants in the garden to annoy his brother, but Vash was away. Still on business somewhere in Switzerland. His eye brows furrowed together in both confusion and disappointment, but he thought not of it. He was just being paranoid.

He continued to venture deeper into the garden. Until he almost couldn't see the castle below the towering peaks if his roosts. He heard a rustle to his left and he spun around. It wasn't that he suspected the rustle, but his instinct told him that his left side was his blind side. A gaping hole in what he used to see.

He never expected to see what he saw, but what he saw made him run towards it. He knelt down, almost panicking at the sight of the passed out boy.

"Ravis" Arthur shook Ravis's shoulders, his eyes scanning for injuries. Apart from a bruise forming on his forehead, he looked fine. Ravis' eyes fluttered open, surprise and then shock on his face.

"M-Mister Kirkland, yo-your eye" he stutter pointing horror. Of course he had never seen Arthur's now exposed eye before, the incident had happened centuries before he was born and Arthur had dropped his contact.

"Oh, don't worry about that, it's been like that for a while. Are you okay? What happened? What is wrong with your head" Arthur gingerly touched it, ignoring the look of fear on the boy, figuring it had to do with his eye.

Ravis clung to the older man's shirt, tears filling his eyes.

"P-peter, he took Peter" Ravis stuttered, hiccupping sobs making his small frame shudder. Arthur stopped and his breathing hitched. Fuck, he thought.

"Which direction?" Somehow he made his voice sound firm as he held the boy's shoulders. Ravis pointed in the opposite direction Arthur had come from, his finger shaking uncertainly. "Go find Yao, or Alfred. Or anyone. Go to the house and get someone" with that he ran off, in the direction Ravis had pointed. His legs weren't long, but they were enough to get him where he needed to be. His lungs began to produce fire at an alarming rate and smoke began to lift from his nostrils. He didn't need the feeling in his chest to know that he was pissed, there were actual, physical indicators.

"Peter!" He screamed. He had made a promise, he had made a promise that he would live by until he was very, very dead. He had promised his last brother on his death bed that the child his wife had died giving birth to would be happy. He had, so far, not even come close to breaking that promise and he wasn't about to go back on it now.

His eyes alit, magic on his tongue and tingling at his finger tips.

First he saw the man.

Then the weapon.

Then his brother's child.

Then the man's grin.

Peter was pushed away from the man's iron grip and a sparkling glove was aimed at him, his life about to form to a crashing halt.

_You're defenceless and you think like a human. _

Maybe it was those words that saved both of there lives.

_You're defenceless, breakable. _

It was those words that made him do what he did. Words born of anger and hatred that had sprouted from the lips of someone he now called a friend had saved his life. Power glowed from his every pore. A power so ancient that it was unheard of even in the stories of old knew nothing of it. A power so potent it made even the most powerful demon look human.

He would not fall to the general winter. He would not fall to the man who would fight against his own children for power. He refused above all to fall he leader of the demons and the man who had killed so many of the people he loved and had begun so many pointless wars.

No, he would never fall to the winter general.

...

"Mister Jones! Mister Jones!" Ravis found Alfred first, sitting on the steps of the back door his head in his hands. Mei stood beside him, patting his back sympathetically, while also managing to look incredibly confused. His head snapped up at the sound of his last name being yelled in such a panicked voice. "Mister Jones! I-I lost P-Peter and A-Arthur went after him and-d I-I know if they- if they're alright" he was hiccuping, tears streaming down his face. He stood a little way away as if scared that Alfred would be angry at him for abandoning Arthur.

"Ravis" Alfred voice was stern, but his head fluttered in his chest. What on earth was going on? Why was the boy crying? Where was Arthur? "Tell me what happened"

Ravis took a deep breath.

"I was playing with Peter in the garden and there was this man and he hit me o-on the h-head a-and took Peter away and then I went to sleep and then M-Mister Kirkland was with me and something was wrong w-with his eye and then h-he went to get P-Peter back f-from the man and h-he told me to get h-help" Ravis was on his knees now, sobbing, unable to understand what was coming out of his mouth, not knowing what it meant. He was worried about Arthur and Peter and he was scared and the man in the garden was scary and Mister Jones looked really scary also. Alfred knelt down in front of the boy, struggling and probably failing to keep his fragile composure.

"Ravis, you have to take me to them. Pull your self together, everything is going to be fine, but you need to take me to him" Ravis stared into bright worried blue eyes and he stood, hurriedly. How could he have forgotten? He couldn't be like his brothers. He couldn't be afraid, not now, not when his best friend was in danger. He quickly grabbed Alfred's big hand and began to tug him towards the trees as fast as he could, still shaking. He barely noticed Mister Jones' rushed orders directed at Mei to get her brother or anyone she could find. All he noticed was that he couldn't be afraid, because his brothers were constantly afraid and that was why they were unhappy.

Alfred quickly decided that the boy was too slow. He was too panicked to care about Ravis' surprised squeal as he scooped the boy into his arms, as light as feathers he was.

"Just direct me" he said, breathlessly. The boy nodded and pointed.

Something was wrong.

Something was very, very wrong.

He could feel it in his bones, in his head. He couldn't breath it was so bad. Oh, god, that sight. Arthur. Arthur lit up. Arthur powerful. Arthur in war. Arthur in pain. He could see his skin peeling back, wearing away, blistering and bruising. Blood dribbled from the the corner of his mouth. His dragon eye was flaming, on fire, flames leaking into his hair. Golden light, green light, dragon light, red light. Fear and desperation in the air. White flame versus scarlet. Fear versus over confidence.

Demon versus dragon.

"Arthur!" He screamed his hand reaching out he moved to go out to them, tears in his eyes at the sight of his love. Anyone could see that Arthur couldn't hold out much longer. But he would hold out until he was forced to his knees and killed, because their was a boy behind him. The last person who shared his blood. The last person who would ever share his blood. Alfred didn't think that Arthur was up for sacrificing what he had worked so hard to protect.

Tight little arms wrapped around his waist, desperately trying to stop him from going any further.

"No!" The boy screeched, tears still streaming from dark blue eyes. "You have to wait! Mister Kirkland can deal with it!" Alfred looked down at the boy in desperation. Suddenly remembering talking to Toris.

Oh, I really hate that Ravis has to go through living with Ivan. He keeps a dagger on him at all times, he's never used it but it makes him feel safe. Eduard gave it to him.

Alfred immediately started patting at Ravis' pant legs, searching for the dagger. If he didn't get it soon Arthur was going to die. He was going to die at the hand of some demon dirtbag and, oh god, he was about to burst into tears.

"Please, god, Ravis, where's your knife?" Ravis immediately understood, raising his ankle he tugged his pant leg to reveal a small, but usable dagger. Alfred's shaking fingers somehow managed to unsheathe it. He glanced back, but that was all it took.

Arthur was on his knees.

Arthur was covered in blood.

Arthur was… losing.

Badly.

He hurled himself towards the Silver haired man with the icey flames spitting from his gloves. His heartbeat stopped when dark, dark blue eyes snapped to him. Something hit his chest and he was thrown backwards, his eyes closing. He wasn't dead, he wasn't even hurt, he was fine.

He just couldn't move.

He was barely breathing, his heart beat slow and ponderous. Even his fingertips lost their feeling and he became just a floating entity looking down at his collapsed body, Ravis' dagger still held in his frozen fist. He heard a high pitched wail, like that of a banshee that changed almost immediately into a deep roar. Alfred's eyes snapped to Arthur and saw a ferocious sight. Arthur's teeth were widening in his mouth and his skin was growing scaly. His fingernails lengthened to claws that swiped at the air. His hair flew off from his forehead, a light filtering through the individual strands. Green, gold and red. Arthur's colours. Arthur's rage. Arthur's rage.

Arthur stormed towards them man, his mouth snapping savagely, not yet dragon, not quite man. The ice fire that one once forced him to his knees, bouncing away like its in fear.

Then Arthur roared.

Alfred had heard many things. He had heard explosions and screams, he had even had the pleasure to hear Arthur's roar at night a few times, but nothing prepared him for Arthur's war cry. It was like nothing else. Like some sort of horrendous warning. A warning given after the fire is lift. An angry "I told you so" that shook even the ground. It made the man look like simply a weakling.

Arthur's eyes blazing, rage prominent and blaring. Alfred could see what he was saying. He could see the words in the roar of his.

_You dare, touch him, you dare?!_

_Don't you even think of that!_

_I swear I will kill you!_

He forced down on the man and Alfred blacked out, falling back into his body, but still unable to move. He heard a hoarse scream and he didn't know who it came from. Panic coursed uncertainly through his veins. He breathed out hard, urging himself to awaken, to help, to just see would be enough. He gasped as he felt the icey feeling from his heart melt. His eyes sprung open the screams now dead in the air. His eyes struggled to move, but somehow they managed it.

Arthur was kneeling, breathing hard, covered in his own blood, the man lay breathing only slightly. Arthur looked to him, his rage gone, his teeth back to human. A look if weary relief on his features.

_Oh, thank god._

_He's alive._

Then three bangs echoed through the small clearing and Arthur fell. Alfred's eyes widened as cherry red blood spluttered from Arthur's already bloody lips, he watched as three bullets entered his torso and only one came out. He watched as Arthur fell to the ground. Someone screamed and he couldn't tell who it was. All he knew was that Arthur was dead. He had watched the movies, he knew what happened when you get shot. He knew that when you're already weak, you're heart will fail at any excuse.

Still he scrambled over to the body, his heart into his throat. Instead he reached and cradled him. The neck he had so considered kissing was next to his nose once again, only now it smelt like blood. He couldn't hear anything, but he own ragged breathing. No constant breathing, or impatient heartbeat.

He was dead.

He was just no longer alive.

Blood began to seep into his shirt, but he didn't feel it. He didn't hear the horrified screams. The scuttling of adults to shield the children's eyes. The instinctive comforting. The unfortunate wailing. He didn't see Ivan storm over to the man and kill him, just as he had killed Arthur. He didn't see the sight of lifelong friends dropping to their knees. He didn't see Francis weep at the sight of the boy he had raised, bloodied and no longer breathing.

He didn't hear someone whisper "The Valkyries", but he did see the two men in the distance. One with copper hair, small and slender, his eyes were sad. Another, a blond, strong and capable looking, hair slicked back from his face. They looked sad, almost disappointed.

"Please" Alfred wheezed. He didn't know who they were, but he thought they could help. "Please" the smaller one looked up at the blond who shook his head sadly.

Then Arthur began to disappear. He just quietly evaporated in Alfred's arms. In the dragon's colours, red, green and gold.

Alfred began to scream. He raised his head to the sky, his body unable to contained his grief. "No!" He screamed. His voice parlayed with hiccuping sobs. He screamed until his voice was hoarse and the men had disappeared with Arthur and all he was left with was the knowledge that the person he loved most in the whole wide world was dead.

Author's notes:

I offer no comment upon the previous. You will simply have to wait and see.

Much love and deceit,

Clementine


	14. It's been an honour

Alfred awoke.

His head pounded, but the pain was lost to him. He was numb and lying on Arthur's kitchen floor, clutching the dragon's high class whiskey. He hadn't been sober since the funeral. He didn't know why he did it. He didn't know why he drank, it never made him feel any better, it just made him feel anything. He was scared, he was scared of not feeling anything, but pain for the rest of his life. He couldn't count the times Elizaveta had called him, he couldn't count the times he had turned off his phone.

His glasses lay cracked a little way away. He had thrown them in a fit of drunken rage because he knew how much Arthur loved his glasses. And he was angry. He couldn't describe how angry he was. He was angry at Arthur, for him abandoning him, for only giving him a few weeks when everyone else got centuries, he was angry because he was so sad. He was so sad it made it hard to breath, he was so insanely sad, but he couldn't express it. His tears had run dry and all that was left was a hallow husk of alcoholism and fear. In his dreams he heard Arthur's war cry and while he was awake he would see him reading beside the fire, always seeking warmth.

The funeral had been a somber affair. The ground had been drenched tears. Alfred had gone back to England with Roma and Francis, but they were one car in a convoy. A convoy off grievance. Too much sadness, a great dark cloud moving across Europe, to attend a funeral nobody thought would ever happen.

There hadn't been a body so there was no grave, but there was still a monument of his parting. A gravestone of the finest marble next to five others. Each of the Kirkland brothers together at last. On each a dragon perched of the exact likeness of their owner. They had stood by the gravestone with no grave while the funeral had commenced.

All of the people of the castle had attended, all the families, all the children, all except Ivan. He had been to ashamed, to ashamed that it was his father to take Arthur's life. Both sisters came, glad in black, their eyes downcast, their expressions somber. Yao had given the eulogy, it would of been Francis, but he hadn't spoken a word since that afternoon. He had only cried, barely eating anything, forcing himself to sleep like he thought if he just went to sleep this nightmare would end. It never did. He had sobbed quietly during the funeral, muttering only inaudible things about his dead mon lapin. He was staying with Roma and Old Man Fritz now, somewhere in Germany with all their boys, old and young. He had tried to jump off Arthur's roost the day of his death. He would of fallen to his death had Vash not stepped in to hold him back. Francis had cried in his arms and a surprising gentleness had come over the Swiss man, the same type that came out when he comforted his younger sister. He had embraced Francis and held him while he wailed.

Yao blamed himself, he blamed himself more than anyone else. He had let Arthur go into battle alone, he had broke whatever promise he had made and it was his fault Arthur was dead. While he had spoken of Arthur's life he had called Arthur a name. Huǒ rén or something like that, people had gasped when they had heard it and a new flurry of tears from the adults had hit the ground, much to the confusion of the already weeping children in their laps. Nobody had stuck around for long after the funeral ended.

Too sad.

Instead they had clung to their children for comfort while the young ones asked where uncle Arthur had gone. It had been Roma and old man Fritz to tell them. They had gathered the children the night of Arthur's death and told them that uncle Arthur had gone away and he wasn't coming back. Only the older ones really understood, Francis and Gilbert and such.

After the funeral Alfred he gone back to Arthur's house full of books and drunk himself stupid. Roma had said that he could have the house and everything in it, he said its what Arthur would of wanted. Roderich had given him compensation for his death, Alfred suspected he would of given the money to someone else, but nobody else needed it. He would be able to live off that for a little while. As for the rest of Arthur and his brother's processions nobody had touched them. The greed of humans was lost on them. Technically it all went to Peter and Francis, but neither of them wanted it. Neither of them wanted the money of a dead man they both held so dear.

Alfred raised his head a little, the hangover not even fazing him. _I want to die_, he thought, _I don't wanna be alive anymore. The man I love is dead, why should I keep on living if he's not living with me? _

* * *

"Kiku told me I should visit you" he said to the gravestone, to Arthur's dragon. "So here I am" he smelt, his hair was unbrushed and wild, his glasses were still cracked and askew. He looked like shit and it was spitting rain, but here he was.

Drops of rain fell into his hair and dripped down his forehead. He could barely breath, he was hurt too bad. His abilities to stay a person were falling by the minute.

"I hope… I hope that they will put me next to you. I hope that they will treat me like your husband even though you don't even know I love you" he lowered his head, his eyes cast down at his feet. He wanted to cry and he wanted to lose himself in his grief, but he couldn't. He was numb and he was empty and he was incapable of expressing his hurt beyond drunken behaviour.

"Why… why, Arthur? W-why did you leave me? Why weren't you p-paying attention?" His knees almost buckled, he almost fell knowing he wouldn't get back up, but somehow he remainder standing. He was still wearing the suit Roma had brought him for the funeral, he couldn't remember the last time he had eaten, he couldn't remember the last time he wasn't in pain. He felt dead. He felt so blank that he doubted death would affect him. It would only make his body match his mind.

"I want to follow you" he was on the verge of tears now, but he knew they wouldn't come. "Without you I don't want to be alive anymore. I don't know who I am, I don't know what I'm doing. I just… I just wish you were here" he raised his head to the sky, staring up at the crying sky. Droplet of water came down on him, but he didn't open them. His heart beat painfully in his chest.

"Well I'm here love. What are your next two wishes?" Alfred eyes widened, but then they snapped shut again.

"It's not really him" he whispered to himself, his hands twitched by his sides, so tempted to turn around, to face his own subconscious.

"Alfie?"

Slowly Alfred turned around, his eyes wide, his heart hammering in his chest. Arthur looked different from his dreams. Very different from his dreams. He didn't look pristine, or glowing. He wasn't sipping tea, but there was one big difference that made all the others seem insignificant.

This Arthur was alive and his dream Arthur was not.

He wore a long tan coat with a shirt and tie underneath, black dress pants protruding out of the long coat. He had a long scarf wrapped around his neck failing to hide the bandages on his neck. His right eye was covered by a black eye patch, hiding a figured dragon eye. His hands were bandaged and he had a patch on his cheek. His neck from the neck down was bruised and discoloured. He held an union jack umbrella, resting on his shoulder, keeping his wild hair dry. A bouquet of bright red roses and a book in his arm. His face was sad, or maybe annoyed at having to stand in the rain.

Alfred's breath left him. He opened his mouth searching for words that wouldn't come. One of his knees buckled and his arms went out to steady himself, but his eyes never left green eyes and they never left him. Arthur reached out to him in surprise, taking a nervous step towards him. He seemed on edge.

It seemed it was then that something inside Alfred snapped. He hadn't even know there was something inside of him that could be snapped anymore, but apparently there was. He ran forward and Arthur had no time to dart out of the way.

Warmth, he was always so warm.

He buried his nose into the crook of Arthur neck, feeling bandages instead of skin. His arms wrapped around Arthur's thin waist and brought him as close and he could get. Taking in deep breaths, taking in Arthur's wonderful scent mixed in with roses. A smell he had missed so much.

"Alfie" Arthur's voice was disapproving and slightly pained. It wasn't good for him to be tackled, he was still weak. Still he wrapped his arms around his American as he felt hot tears fall from sapphire eyes onto his shoulder.

Alfred pushed his cheek to Arthur's chest and listened, tears streaming down his face. There came a steady heartbeat, a heartbeat that had been so missing from his life. The heartbeat he had drunk so much to forget.

He straightened and held Arthur to his chest. His face was wet and he couldn't tell whether it was rain or tears or both.

"Thank you" he spluttered, his body shaking violently with sobs. "Thank you for giving him back" his thanks were never ending, but the weeping heavens never replied. He didn't know how long they stood there, holding each other in relief and thankfulness, but after a while Alfred drew back, his hands moving to cup his cheeks, he wanted to see the face of the one he loved.

"Artie" he whispered.

"Yes?" God, he had missed that accent. He was in England, he was surrounded by that way of talking, but Arthur was the only one it was meant for.

"I love you" Arthur lifted his face to Alfred's at the sound of the words he so craved to hear. Tentatively he let their lips brush. His lips were chapped and dry, but he didn't care, because he was madly in love with the man who loved him.

"I love you" he whispered, eyes half lidded with exhaustion and relief. Alfred brought his lips back down to Arthur's lips, his eyes closing as tingles went out in shock waves from his lips to his toes. Arthur was docile, opening his mouth to Alfred without thought, letting his tongue explore beyond his lips. He gasped dazedly when Alfred pressed down on him, desperation in his stance, like he was afraid Arthur was going to disappear again.

They drew back, breaking the kiss, the need for air becoming to much. A string of saliva confected them, both panting slightly, cheeks red and eyes still somewhat wet. Alfred pressed his forehead against Arthur's.

"Will you stay with me please? Will you stay with me forever?" His hopes in a sentence. He wasn't satisfied with just Arthur's breathing, he was selfish. He wanted Arthur to breath with him. He didn't want jewels or gold or women or a castle, he just wanted Arthur. He wanted Arthur to be his, or the other way round, it didn't matter.

"Of course, love"

* * *

Quiet, cold and clear, he lies, his eyes open. Early morning sun on his face, barely awake. Staring at the celling, even though it was just the same as it had been before. He feels a hand stroke the line of his jaw and he lets out a little coo of thanks. A hand holds tightly on his opposite shoulder, and a cheek is pressed against his collarbone. Deep breathing and a loving stare.

"I drank all your whiskey" a voice states. His eyes widen, his face morphing from calm to shock.

"Alfie, you didn't" he looks down at the American.

"I'm sorry" Alfred mumbles into skin. Arthur's shirt is discarded somewhere across his bedroom. For the record, they didn't have sex. Alfred's hands had tried to explore, but Arthur was still too weak. He was wounded and back from the dead. Alfred had demanded to see the extent of his injuries, which had lead to Arthur shirt being taken off. He wasn't too badly hurt, bad enough to want to sleep a lot. He refuses to speak a word of how he returned, naming it dragon's business.

"Tell me you didn't get into the basement" Arthur begs, already feeling like he should of stayed dead.

"You have a basement?"

"Oh thank god" Arthur mutters, closing his eyes in relief. "I have one of the best bottles of vodka ever made in there. Ivan gave it to me last christmas" There is a shuffle and then Alfred looms above him, his hands sinking into the mattress. Sapphire eyes bore down at him, his glasses abandoned on the bedside table. His mouth is a tight frown.

"Artie" he mutters, lowering his head, searching for lips. He's never wanted to kiss someone so badly. Especially someone so damn beautiful.

"Alfie, what's up?" As always Arthur is dense.

"Wanna kiss" and with that Alfred pressed their lips together, pantingly desperate to get into this man's pants. Arthur responds immediately, dazed once again working its way into his mind. "So beautiful" Arthur tastes like smoke. Alfred's kisses trail down his neck, bandaged or other wise.

Whisperings of I love you. Slow and sensual. Careful and impatient. Days spent in sun and many more tears. Children continuing with Arthur's nap time like he had simply gone on holiday. An insistent clinging came from Francis, weeping and words he had kept trapped for weeks. So much happiness, so much relief, so much confusion, so much disarray. So much not really that dead after all. So much sorry it took me so long. So much I'm sorry I made you sad. So much it was never your fault. So much I'm sorry.

So much we're so glad you're back.

Author's final notes:

Hello and welcome to the last chapter. It has been an honour writing this and thank you to anyone who followed and favourited, a special thanks to ClearAsCrystal269, Furrfurr2001, and I've-Got-All-The-Homo all of whom reviewed. I am way too much of a softie to let Arthur stay dead, I felt to bad. I really hope you liked the ending and farewell until another story.

Much love,

Clementine

P.s if anyone has any requests for specific pairings, I am totally willing to start up a new story. I just got rid of this one and I'm going to be bored as hell.


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